Beneath Masks
by altiversewatcher
Summary: Spike returns 10 (4-5) years later, without any memory of his past or who he was. He has a very new and different life. (whole cast) B/S
1. chapter 1

Note: it's not your usual spike turns human story, buffy/spike angst story. Oh, and I decided to make Spike accomplished in this story. I'm sick of always hearing about him not having anything or needing to borrow money. Don't worry, the beginning is a little weird, but it'll make sense soon enough. Yes, William Dale is Spike. Yes, Spike has amnesia (special case. you'll see). No Spike is not pure human. I threw in some Highlander undertone. so Spike is . vampire (strength)/human/ immortal. I know. I'm so screwed in the head!!!! Enjoy...  
  
Disclaimers: Buffy characters are not mine  
  
Chapter 1 ~~~  
  
(Set 10 years after the end of season 6)  
  
William sighed as he pinched to bridge of his nose. The idiot was rambling about screwing up some of the programming. no, make that deleted the programming. So now, there was a huge gaping hole in the damn system. This was worse than ten 'severity ones' put together. William sighed and leaned on his huge black desk. He tapped his fingers against his lips a few times and then finally stood up.  
  
He across the room, over to the simpering, pathetic man and began to circle him. Both of William's hands were folded neatly behind himself. His longer hair was slicked back and tied with a black hair tie.  
  
William spoke to the man in a perfectly cultured voice, "Here's what's going to happen Jonathan: You are going to march back to your department, and tell your group to start fixing the problem and recovering the lost files. I want you to be done in 24 hours."  
  
Jonathan helplessly begged. "But sir, it's not possible, it would take two days at least to fix this."  
  
William put a hand on Jonathan's shoulder and cut him off. "I know that you just bought a new house and car. In fact, you just got married last year and your wife just gave birth to your first son this last week or so. It would be a pity to see your property confiscated and you going into deep debt for the rest of your life."  
  
Jonathan swallowed visibly.  
  
William walked up to the window and looked into the deep blue evening. The sight of this fool sickened him, "You have 24 hours. Starting now."  
  
Jonathan yelped and dashed out the door of his office.  
  
~~~ (23 hours and 10 seconds later)  
  
Jonathan let out a half relieved and insane laugh as the project leader finally reconnected and fixed the system. The rest of the employees were huddles around the computer screen and had been crossing their fingers.  
  
William walked into the room, clapping his hands. "Good job."  
  
The employees scurried off of the floor and stood up as they saw the company's CEO come in.  
  
William crossed his arms and sat on one of the desks, "Is the system back up?"  
  
Jonathan nervously nodded. "Yes Mr. William. I mean Mr. Dale."  
  
William stood up and headed towards the door, "Good. Very efficiently done."  
  
When the door finally shut after William had left. Everyone exhaled in relief.  
  
~~~  
  
William walked into 'Grandpa's' study.  
  
Well, the old man wasn't really his grandpa, he was just really fond of William and since he had no children, he adopted William to help him out and take over his company. The old man was very well known on the east coast, with his multi-billion dollar empire he had set up. They had met in Oxford, while he and Leng were studying 'Business'. They had been in the same building listening to their favorite author give a speech. He had snuck out of class to listen and the old man had snuck out while his nurse wasn't watching. Here, fate made their paths cross and ultimately change both of their lives.  
  
Some construction workers outside had messed up and set the building on fire, the students rushing out the auditorium nearly trampled the old man as he tried escape from the chaos. He was suddenly thrown out of his wheel chair and was kicked around. William had heard him cry out in pain as the absentminded. or perhaps selfish students paid no heed to the poor old man. William quickly jumped into sea of people from one of the raised seats. After some rough shoving, biting and kicking, he finally picked up the old man and helped him out of the mosh-pit. Once outside, William dashed to one of the benches and called 911. He followed the old man to hospital and helped fill out the papers. Finally the old man had woke up and wanted to talk him.  
  
(Flashback)  
  
William hesitantly walked over to the old man. "Hello."  
  
The old man laughed. "Why come here, my boy. Don't worry, I won't bite."  
  
William nodded and sat in the seat next to the bed.  
  
The old man stuck out his hand. "Hi. I'm Owen Dale."  
  
William gaped. "Owen Dale! As in the CEO of LuminaCorp?"  
  
Owen proudly grinned, "The very same."  
  
William just stared and said. "Wow."  
  
Owen looked at William in surprise, "You mean you didn't know it was me when you saved me from the crowd?"  
  
Still stunned, William managed to shake his head a little.  
  
Owen laughed. "Look, my boy."  
  
"William."  
  
"Huh?"  
  
"My name is William."  
  
"Oh! William.?"  
  
"I don't know. I don't really have a last name or family."  
  
Owen gave William a sympathetic look. "That was very courageous of you William, what you did for me."  
  
William blinked a few times. "Oh, it's all right. I try to help people whenever I can."  
  
Owen grinned. "Well. I have a proposition for you William." ~~~  
  
From then on William helped take care of Owen and Owen helped him with his business classes. After William had graduated, Owen's graduation present was to adopt William.  
  
~~~ (End flashback)  
  
William cleared his throat as he entered Owen's room. "Are you ready?"  
  
Owen hobbled around on his cane and in his free hand he finished putting in the last of his files. "Why yes son."  
  
William picked up Owen's three suitcases with ease and they exited Owen's penthouse suite. William handed Owen's luggage to a bellboy and went to his penthouse on the floor below to get his own things. He was actually done packing his clothes and necessities, he just needed to wrap his Swords with a few blankets and zip them into his luggage.  
  
Finally Owen and William were standing in the elevator, stiff and flawless. Owen looked like some sort of Godfather mob boss; although he was old you could sense the power he wielded. William was like an emotionless statue, rigid faced and every movement showed precision and perfection. Owen spoke first. "So, is Leng coming with us?"  
  
William shook his head. "She just got hired by VinTech, you know, that biotech company. She didn't think that it would be polite to leave only one month after being hired."  
  
Leng was sort-of like William's sister. She was the first person he saw when he awoke. He couldn't remember anything at all about his past life, who he was, where he was, etc. He had spent about 10 years training with Leng and her Shi-Fu (mentor/teacher. sort of like a sensei that teaches martial arts). Funny thing was, the place that they trained in was cursed. Because each year you trained in those special mountains, only a day passed in the real world. He remembered his surprise when he walked out and realized that he had only been gone for 10 days.  
  
Both of them were powerful, and even though they had the exact same lessons, Leng's skills and power could never come close to half of what William could do. Any person would have thought Leng would be jealous, but she wasn't, she understood her role in this grand scheme. Helping William train and maintain a neutral status was her job.  
  
Shi-Fu was actually quite rich and managed to send both of them overseas to study. Both of them had majored in business, but Leng changed after a year and went into Computer Engineering with a Biology minor.  
  
~~~  
  
William checked his watch. "Our flight to L.A. isn't until 5, what are we going to do now?"  
  
Owen laughed. "Just because we're leaving today, doesn't mean you get to skip out on Church, son. Come one."  
  
William rolled his eyes.  
  
One of the deals with Owen adopting him was that he had to become Christian and they had to go to church every Sunday. It wasn't horrible, but it wasn't fun either. Most of the time, William just lost himself in though and would begin to deal with company decisions mentally during the sermon. Owen wasn't really that strict of a Christian either, he just wanted to pass down a tradition that his parents gave him and it was a weekly routine for him. Something safe and secure that would never change.  
  
They entered the old and prestigious Church; the choir was softly singing "Pie Jesu." William savored the soothing and vibrating hymn with a small grin. Owen and William quietly seated themselves in one of the back pews and quietly listened. ~~~  
  
William sighed as he typed away on his computer on the airplane; he was finishing up his presentation. Owen's dream was to expand LuminaCorp to the West Coast, except for the fact that when he had finally secured his multi- billion dollar company, he took old to continue his conquests. However, now that he had an adopted son that was just as ambitious as he was, his dream would finally come true.  
  
Owen chuckled happily as he swirled his wine as sipped a little bit of it.  
  
William glanced over. "Is there something funny Grandpa?"  
  
Even though, legally, William was his son. William just never got used to call him 'Dad'. But 'Grandpa' was still wonderful, it didn't matter, as long as he had an heir; he could die satisfied.  
  
Owen shook his head, just reminiscing. "I remember going to L.A. a long time ago when I was only a lad."  
  
William quietly put away his laptop and respectfully listened his Grandfather's story.  
  
~~~  
  
William walked around charming the guests who were at the museum that night to see the Dale family showcase. Owen as a great collector of Monet paintings. It was rare for anyone to see the entire collection together like tonight. All of L.A.'s richest and finest were at the gallery. William spent most of his time talking to a very wealthy contractor that could help set up LuminaCorp.  
  
Cordelia and Wesley tried to make themselves inconspicuous as they glanced at some of the paintings. No, there weren't any demons and monsters. Cordelia just wanted to mingle with the rich and famous. Luckily she knew the guard at the back of the museum very well and he let her in. They had entered later, after dinner was over and actually, most of the guests were slowly leaving.  
  
Cordelia was sort of unhappy, she never even managed to hook cute guy. oh wait... She looked over to the tall young man with dark brown/black hair tied up in a ponytail. He was casually strolling around after he had escorted a old rich couple to their car. Cordelia did a double take.  
  
'He looks familiar' she thought.  
  
William walked up to her. "Oh, hello Miss. I'm sorry, I don't recall seeing you tonight."  
  
Cordelia shook her head; she knew she was blushing dark red. William mouthed 'I'm sorry' again and kissed the back of her hand.  
  
"My name is William Dale." William pointed over to Owen. "And that's my grandfather, Owen Dale, over there."  
  
"I'm Cordelia and this is my friend Wesley."  
  
William shook hands will Wesley. While Cordelia was completely enamored with William, Wesley couldn't shake off the feeling of familiarity. Finally Wesley decided that he had to at least try to ask. "Um, does the name Spike ring a bell?"  
  
William gave the watcher a strange look. "Spike?"  
  
William laughed. "Is that even a name?"  
  
Wesley shook his head. "Sorry, just a silly notion. You look like an old friend."  
  
William laughed again, "Don't worry, no harm done."  
  
William later introduced Owen to Cordelia and Wesley. Owen decided to retire early that night and William, Cordelia and Wesley went out for a drink. Before they did, William stopped by the hotel he was staying at to change and to arm himself with one of his swords.  
  
Just in case, you never knew what might lurk in the night.  
  
Cont. 


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2  
  
Note: Okay, I have never seen Angel at all. All I know is that Wesley, Cordelia and some other people are with Angel. I also don't know whether Drusilla or Darla is dead. and I still don't Connor's stuation. so I'm going to leave him out. heh. anyways this is an alternate universe right?  
  
~~~  
  
William, Cordelia and Wesley walked back to Cordy's apartment after hanging around a few clubs. They were laughing and very garrulous, or perhaps it was just William, who just had a shot of espresso. Finally, both Cordy and Wesley left and William wandered into a nearby bar.  
  
William ordered a cup of the most expensive beer, and then he silently sipped the brew. Not before long a very tall and pale, nearly pure white, man in black clothing and black hair sat by William. William annoyedly groaned, "What are you doing here?"  
  
The powder white man showed his jagged teeth and laughed. "Well, someone is happy to see me."  
  
William grunted and ignored the man, the very annoying, this guy had been stalking him for the last 6 months or so, stopping him a few times for scattered conversations.  
  
William didn't know who he was, but subconsciously he knew, he knew very well. And for some reason, his subconscious finally provided him with the answer. He rolled the thought around in his head verifying it.  
  
The pale man was grinning madly and staring at William with intensity with his pupil-less eyes.  
  
William finally downed the rest of his drink and decided to face the man. "What do you want Lucifer?"  
  
Lucifer rubbed his hands together happily, "I knew you were a smart boy. I didn't even need to send you through some traumatic event to reveal to you who I am."  
  
William kept his stare on Lucifer steady, "Don't change the topic."  
  
Lucifer smirked, this time more menacingly. "Ah, always to the point."  
  
Lucifer paused and contemplated for a few seconds. "Well, there's something I'd like you to do for me."  
  
" Tell me first and then I'll decide."  
  
" Well, there's this guy. Angel. I just want you to piss him off."  
  
"And how am I supposed to do that?"  
  
"Well one, hurt his pride and two, get his woman."  
  
"Be more specific."  
  
"I want you to attack, no raze Wolfram and Hart, a law firm run by demons. I want you to do what Angel has never been able to do, destroy them."  
  
"And."  
  
"Oh, and the woman, apparently a long time ago Angel fell in love with this woman, Buffy, who also happens to be a vampire slayer. Oh, did I mention that Angel is a vampire?"  
  
William shook his head, but he was completely unfazed by the question.  
  
"Yeah, anyways, I just want you to do some. bonding with her, I don't know. Go out with her, screw her, whatever. Just make Angel jealous."  
  
"And why are you so intent on making Angel mad? And why can't you do it yourself?"  
  
Lucifer flashed him an insane smile, " That's my little secret."  
  
William studied him for a few moments and then nonchalantly shrugged. "And what do I get out of doing this favor for you?"  
  
"I might stop bothering you."  
  
William shook his head. "No deal."  
  
"Fine, I won't bother you for an entire year."  
  
William contemplated it for a second. "I'll only accept if Owen does not get involved and if only you visit me. I don't want to talk to some idiot minion of yours."  
  
Lucifer suddenly looked a little sad. "Ah, I'm sorry about that thing with your convention."  
  
William gave a deep sigh, remembering the demon that ran amuck in the LuminaCorp convention. Luckily he was able to quickly cover everything up and kill the minion.  
  
"Why do you hire such stupid servants anyways?"  
  
Lucifer then looked really somber. "Well, God got all the intelligent minions and I got the dumb ones and as they breed, they just get dumber and dumber. More than 3/4ths of them don't even deliver messages that I want them to.."  
  
Lucifer stood straight up and glanced at William. "So?"  
  
William nodded. "Sure, as long as you get off my back. It'll be an easy job."  
  
Lucifer patted William on the back, "Thanks buddy! Have fun massacring those demons!"  
  
"Aren't they hired by you?"  
  
Lucifer shrugged. "Yeah, I've got more than enough. I can't keep track of them all!"  
  
William's eyebrow twitched and gave Lucifer a strange look  
  
Then Lucifer whistled a little tune and exited the bar. ~~~  
  
The next day LuminaCorp bought the bank that Wolfram and Hart owed money to and forced Wolfram and Hart to file for Chapter 11.  
  
~~~~  
  
A week after that night William met Lucifer, he found himself in the back of a bar. It turned out that the bartender also sold firearms and explosives  
  
"That enough explosives for you?"  
  
William nodded, satisfied. Then he hurried back to his hotel and printed out a few copies of a spell that would warp demons and evil humans, within a certain radius, into the depths of hell.  
  
"It never hurts to be extra anal when it comes to fragging massive amounts of beings."  
  
Then William strapped on a very long sword, which was slightly longer than his upper body, to his back and he hid 5 more swords here and there. He loaded himself with more guns and explosives than Keanu Reeves did in the Matrix (hehe. sorry about that). His dark maroon coat hid all of his weapons very easily.  
  
William grinned and disappears from this room. ~~~  
  
William rolled his eyes as he watched the entire building implode, "That was too easy."  
  
William laughed darkly. On a subconscious level he had thoroughly enjoyed mauling through all those lawyers and demons. It should be sick that he enjoyed it so much, but then, it was somewhat satisfying. Perhaps it had something to do with his past.  
  
William looked in distasted at his two swords covered in blood. actually; he was completely covered in blood, save his face. As he was about the walk out, Angel and his team ran around the corner.  
  
Everyone froze.  
  
~~~ Angel's mind reeled, "Spike?!"  
  
Cordy wrinkled her nose, " I guess that outfit is completely ruined."  
  
Gunn gaped. "Woah. cool. they're dead."  
  
Wesley rubbed his brow. "Oh dear, how could he have taken them out?"  
  
William sheepishly looked at the ground. 'Oops, should have teleported away sooner.'  
  
Finally William broke the silence. "Show's over, they're dead. Sucked into hell."  
  
Before anyone could ask any questions, William disappeared without a trace.  
  
~~~ Angel ran his hand through his hair. "Well, that certainly cut down on my work."  
  
Cordy rolled her eyes, "Understatement of the century dear."  
  
Quietly she lay down next to Angel and they contemplated. 'What now?'  
  
~~~ Wesley and Gunn sat in the kitchen talking.  
  
Wesley was still a little shaken. "He's too powerful. I mean, even if he did get help."  
  
Gunn nodded. " I sure hope this guy is on our side, 'cause if he isn't."  
  
Gunn drew an imaginary line across his throat, with sound affects.  
  
Wesley shuddered. "Yes, he probably killed hundreds today with ease, by how well he was soaked in blood. *Sigh *"  
  
Gunn shrugged, "Well, he did destroy. no, make that 'completely annihilated'  
  
Wolfram and Hart, he can't be all evil.... Maybe we can talk him into joining the team?"  
  
"No!" Angel growled as he walked into the kitchen to get some blood.  
  
Wesley groaned, frustrated, and began to rub the sides of his head.  
  
~~~  
  
After that awkward moment with Angel and his team, William immediately teleported back to his shower and washed off all the blood. Then he dried the clothes and set them on fire.  
  
No, he should never leave any evidence of his doings.  
  
After the shower, William dressed and strolled down to the café for some coffee. He wasn't a heartless bastard, but killing evil beings was nothing to mope over.  
  
'Or perhaps you've suppressed your emotions so well that, he can't even feel a thing when you hack up a person into pieces.' His heart supplied.  
  
"It's because I can't remember who I was in the past, so maybe that skewered my moral judgments." William muttered to himself.  
  
'But you wanted to forget the past.. you chose to forget.'  
  
Cont. 


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3  
  
Note: Okay, it's been quite confusing on why the years that I'm using are all contradicting each other. Here is the rundown: 10 years have passed in the real world, 4-5 years have passed in Sunnydale (due to a time anomaly, which shall be explained in due time.), William trained in that special little place in the mountains for 10 years when only 10 days have passed.. So. for William- a total of 20 years have passed for him (but it doesn't really matter since he's immortal.). I can hear your brain tying up into knots as you read this. If anything else confuses you, just ask. and I'll try to answer them. well that is unless I intentionally left it a mystery  
  
~~~ Lucifer giggled like a child as he saw that William had effortlessly finished the first task he was given. "I should make him one of my minions. Too bad he's too much a loner and too unpredictable. Well, perhaps I can hire him on occasion, a freelancer. After I win the 'final battle'."  
  
Lucifer felt ultimately elated. Knowing that making Angel mad would lead Angel to doing mistakes; Mistakes that would make Angel unworthy of being the essential tiebreaker in the final battle. Lucifer sighed happily at the thought and reviewed his plans.  
  
'The Powers that Be' would find Angel unworthy of being the vessel for Michael. The world has always been even in light and darkness. Now, as the 'final battle' neared, both sides were completely even, needing Michael, the most powerful angel, to break the tie.  
  
Angel was a goody two shoes, if Michael possessed him, Lucifer knew he would lose without a doubt. But if Angel wasn't chosen due to unworthiness, Michael may not even take part in the decision, thus allowing both heaven and hell to fight it out. Which was exactly what he wanted to happen. At least this way Lucifer had more of a chance.  
  
~~~  
  
(Meanwhile, in the Summer's home)  
  
Dawn sadly sat in front of the television as Passions came on. She sighed, '4 years. 4 years since he's left. Why did he leave?'  
  
Sure, Dawn understood that Xander and Anya had gotten married after the worked out their problems and then they had a baby; But, they didn't want to raise their child in Sunnydale (* see note at bottom), seeking how dangerous it was. Tara was dead and Giles was now in England and showed no signs of returning. So now, it was just she, Buffy and Willow. Well, not really Willow. She was 'out of it' most of the time because of Tara's death, so even though she was here physically, she wasn't really here 'mentally'. They were all alone.  
  
Everyone had left her.  
  
Out of everyone that had left, she was the angriest at Spike. But then it was also Buffy's fault. She later learned that Spike came back from running away for 3 months only for a few seconds, Buffy opened her big stupid mouth and he was gone, probably for forever. No goodbyes, no notice, no nothing. Eventually Buffy had told Dawn about her and Spike's dysfunctional relationship and how he tried to rape and then betrayed her. Even though the things that Spike did were horrible, she just forgave him. Buffy was trying to convince her that he was gone for good, but under her mask of anger, she missed him deeply. Secretly at night, Buffy would sleep with Spike's duster.  
  
It was sad, really. because Dawn realized that Spike had accidentally done all those things to Buffy because she kept toying with his emotions. 'He probably just snapped.'  
  
Buffy muttered unhappily as she came down the stairs and walked towards the fridge and then ruled against it. She had been fired from the Doublemeat Palace recently, she could barely pay the mortgage, much less food and she had to feed all three of them. If she didn't need a snack, she wouldn't have one.  
  
Dawn had tried to get a job this past month, but the strain of the work caused her grades in school to plunge. It was horrible, she was a sophomore now (* I have no idea how old Dawn is.) and she needed good grades to graduate from college. She had to immediately drop the job, and the cost of the lessons that she had taken for the job was cut from her salary. So in the end, she had nothing.  
  
Buffy plopped herself next to Dawn, "How is it so far?"  
  
"Sorry I wasn't paying attention."  
  
Buffy gave Dawn a look and then went back to watching Passions. Dawn sighed deeply again, in truth: their lives had taken a turn for the worst. They were at the rock bottom now.  
  
'From here on, things will start to get better right?'  
  
Seconds after that thought, a mirage appeared in front of Buffy and Dawn. It was a woman, she word a dark blue cloak with her hood on.  
  
Buffy and Dawn gaped. The woman held out her hand .  
  
"I must speak quickly, I'm not suppose to be here or telling you this. The 'chosen one' will be coming soon, I don't know when. He is in humanoid form, Michael has chosen early. He's merged with someone else's body, the old was unworthy. Michael must be directed toward the good side. It is essential for when the apocalypse shall come. Show him why humanity must be kept alive. But it will be very difficult, because he doesn't believe in emotions. Don't tell anyone this information and if you do tell someone that is trustworthy, you must tell him or her directly. Never use any means of communication, or the information will be leaked. I must go!"  
  
The image disappeared, leaving Dawn and Buffy stunned ~~~  
  
The woman in the deep red dress sat seductively on the couch. Both her and her father were grinning madly. Apparently Kress Industries had bought a 'very important' biotech company that William had been investing in. William glared at Vanessa with malice. During the time she had slept with him, she had gone through his things and learned about that which he was keen on buying. The patents from that innovative biotech company could give Kress Industries the boost to buy out LuminaCorp.  
  
Both companies had been long rivals. Vanessa had gone to William months ago, saying how she was "so in love" with him. During that time he had acted like a lovesick puppy, spent most of his time with her and got whatever gifts she wanted. She had followed him and his father to L.A. during their business here, saying that she couldn't stand being so far from him. He was touched.  
  
And in the end, his infatuation had got him screw up. or at least Vanessa and her father believed so. The old, disgusting and oily man got up, in his horrendous English accent ( I know, I know, the irony of it all..) that no one could understand, he spoke to William, "Well Mr. Dale, looks like we should be going."  
  
William silently nodded, not looking up.  
  
Vanessa giddily walked over to him. "Awww, honey, for what it's worth, it was fun while it lasted."  
  
William remained silent and unmoving.  
  
Vanessa shrugged and left the room.  
  
~~~  
  
Angel paced the room, worried.  
  
"How do we find him?! That had to have been Spike."  
  
Wesley shook his head, "No that wasn't Spike, he said so."  
  
Angel froze. "Wait a minute. I'm here freaking out. And you suddenly tell me that you had met him earlier."  
  
Cordy guiltily looked away  
  
"Cordy!" Angel growled.  
  
"Okay, okay Angel. Just calm down.Look, I snuck into that Monet showcase with Wesley since I wanted to see the paintings and mingle with the rich and famous. We happen to bump into William Dale, who uncannily looks exactly like Spike, except without the bleached head and English accent. We went out to show him a few clubs and got a few drinks and then we left. That's all."  
  
Angel still frowned, unconvinced that Cordy was telling him everything.  
  
Cordy rolled her eyes. "Fine! Don't believe me!"  
  
Angel turned to Wesley, "Well? You were there."  
  
Wesley crossed his arms. "Yes I was and Cordy already told you what happened. Geez Angel, I would hope that you had a little more faith in us."  
  
After a final glare, Wesley walked out right behind Cordy.  
  
Angrily, Angel stormed into his rooms. From the outside, you could hear objects crashing and breaking within.  
  
~~~  
  
Lucifer appeared unexpectedly into William's study. Quietly he looked at the collection of books that William had on the shelf. He wrinkled his nose. 'Eewww, this guy is has nothing interesting to read. Let's see: Machiavelli, Plato, Art of War, The writings of John Adams.'  
  
Lucifer shuddered.  
  
William was quietly sitting in his chair, reading next to the fireplace. He didn't even glance up, but he knew who was in the room.  
  
"Why are you here? I thought that you would at least leave me alone while I was working."  
  
"Well, just checking in, pat on the back. Good job."  
  
William rolled his eyes. Lucifer swiftly walked over and plucked the book that William was reading, out of his hands.  
  
William crossed his arms and looked annoyed. "Do you mind?"  
  
"Nietzsche! I didn't think you were that dark. Don't you have anything interesting in here?"  
  
William pointed to another shelf on the other side of the room. "I have Walt Whitman."  
  
Lucifer rolled his eyes. "Sure. don't you have like. comics?! Or bad romance stories?"  
  
William grabbed his book back, "I have Classics in the other room. You are free to go read 'Catcher in the Rye' if you like."  
  
Lucifer plopped onto the couch and put his feet on the table. "Nah."  
  
William glanced over, "Leave, I'm not in the mood to deal with you."  
  
Lucifer's eyes narrowed and he stood up once more. "What did you say?"  
  
"I said 'leave', are you deaf?"  
  
"As if you could make me."  
  
William narrowed his eyes, for a second they flashed purple. Before Lucifer knew it, he was flung into the wall next to the fireplace.  
  
Lucifer hissed as he gathered himself and stormed over to William. Lucifer shot a hand out and began to choke William. William looked at Lucifer, unfazed by his threat. Then Lucifer suddenly released his hand and began to laugh.  
  
"I like you! You've got guts you know that?!"  
  
William smirked.  
  
"Well, really, enough walking around the matter at hand. Well, I was kind of wondering if you would like to do another job for me?"  
  
"Depends on the job."  
  
"Ah, of course. I want you to go down to L.A. penitentiary and kill some girl named Faith."  
  
"Can you tell me why?"  
  
"She's a slayer."  
  
William chuckled. "But isn't jail exactly where you want the slayer to be?"  
  
"Well yeah, but I'm kind of bored and I'm kind of curious who the next slayer might me."  
  
"The truth please?"  
  
"Okay. too many demons in hell, kind of overpopulating. I wanted to clean up a little."  
  
William shook his head. "You are so weird."  
  
"Well?"  
  
"Sure, one less person, why do I care?"  
  
"Then it's settled" Lucifer grinned.  
  
"But my price."  
  
"UH huh."  
  
"Why you want to piss off this.Angel?"  
  
Lucifer was stunned for a second. "Ah. Well, I'll tell you after you do the job."  
  
"Fine."  
  
In a flash Lucifer disappeared once more, leaving William alone in his study.  
  
~~~  
  
Cont.. 


	4. chapter 4

Chapter 4  
  
Note: Did a little researching on Angel. I guess I'll include the usual team, but no Connor. it's a little difficult to throw him in there. Yah.. anyways. R&R please  
  
~~~  
  
William sighed as he drained another glass of scotch. 'Wonderful, I'm working for Lucifer and my girlfriend just betrayed me'  
  
"Life doesn't get any better than this." He muttered sarcastically.  
  
Suddenly, the phone on his mahogany desk rang.  
  
'Show time.'  
  
~~~  
  
Vanessa sobbed pathetically and William curtly glared at her.  
  
It was two days since he had last seen them, 'God they're stupid. Took them long enough to figure out.'  
  
Vanessa's father looked like he was going to have a mental breakdown, in his stupid accent he asked in a broken voice, "How'd you do it?"  
  
William feigned innocence, "Do what?"  
  
"That biotech company is worthless."  
  
William laughed softly, "Oh, so it is."  
  
Vanessa's father glared at her. "You! You said you did all the research! You said that that company would make us billions! Do you know how much I invested?!"  
  
Vanessa pathetically sobbed back, "But I did daddy! William's files!"  
  
William played with the pen that was on the glass table, "Oh, you mean that little piece of false information I planted in my 'secret files'?"  
  
Vanessa gaped.  
  
William continued " And since you spent so much money buying that biotech company. You are now open to a hostile take over."  
  
Vanessa's father got up and gave Vanessa a murderous glare and he stormed out of the meeting room.  
  
Vanessa wiped away her tears and angrily approached William. "What is it to you?! It was just business. You didn't have to."  
  
William stopped her his mocking eyes "tsk tsk tsk. You call sleeping with me business? I hate to think what that makes you."  
  
Vanessa screamed in outrage as she slapped William across the face.  
  
William turned his face back and looked at her with deadly eyes, "Your methods of dealing with such predicaments is so primitive. Perhaps you should reconsider trying make a name for your self in the business world."  
  
"Bastard!" Vanessa spat at him.  
  
William walked away from her. "Why don't you leave? Haven't you done enough for daddy?"  
  
Vanessa screamed in outrage again, then she grabbed her coat and left the room.  
  
William laughed in triumph as he looked at the skyline from the large windows in the meeting room. ' One day this will be all mine.'  
  
~~~  
  
"Buffy?" Angel asked once he heard her pick up on the other side of the line.  
  
"Angel?" Buffy asked in a surprised voice.  
  
"Yeah, um. there's something going on here. We sort of have a problem. A major problem."  
  
"What is it?"  
  
"You know Wolfram and Hart, those guys we're fighting?"  
  
"Yeah."  
  
"They're gone. And we have reason to believe that Spike or a 'Spike look alike' killed the entire law firm and blew up their building"  
  
"You're kidding right?"  
  
"Wasn't Spike with you guys before?"  
  
"No. he's been gone for almost 5 years."  
  
"Really?.shit."  
  
"What do you want me to do?"  
  
"Can your round up the others? And you and the Scooby's come down to L.A.?"  
  
"Sure."  
  
"Alright thanks."  
  
"Okay, bye."  
  
"Good bye." ~~~  
  
William had researched for a while after Lucifer visited him. He looked through the hospital files one more time and confirmed that the four-year- old little girl was the perfect candidate. Earlier, he had gone to talk to the gatekeepers for spirits to confirm that the girl had already moved on.  
  
Now, he just needed to put his black cloak on and visit that girl. He really hated killing people unnecessarily, unless they were psychotic rapists, murderer, etc. He had done some research on Faith, sure she was pretty bitchy and tried to kill the original slayer. but that didn't mean he really had to kill her. There were always loopholes.  
  
~~~  
  
"Hey Buffster! Dawnie!" Xander crowed happily as he hugged the Summer's women.  
  
Tommy, Xander's four-year-old son, giggled happily as Buffy and Dawn cooed him.  
  
Anya smiled, "So Buffy, any reason why we're here? A new Big Bad that you need help with?"  
  
Dawn quietly frowned at hearing Spike's old nickname.  
  
Buffy nodded. "Yeah, except, this time, it's in L.A."  
  
Xander held out his hand. "Wait a minute! L.A. as in city of Angels.or city that Angel presides in?"  
  
"Yes, the very same. In fact, he called saying that he needed help."  
  
"Oh. so um did you also call.."  
  
"Giles, yeah, he's on his way. We'll see him tomorrow afternoon, he just got on his flight not too long ago."  
  
"So, do we know who?"  
  
"Maybe, Angel said something about. Spike?"  
  
Dawn paled, "What? Why didn't you tell me?!" "Well, it's Spike, Dawnie. I know how much you loved him."  
  
Dawn mutely looked away and ran up to her room  
  
Willow, who was silently sitting the whole time, spoke up. "I thought he was good now, with the chip."  
  
Xander was rambling and pacing while Anya agreed to Willow's comment.  
  
Anya asked. "Do you know what happened? What could have set him off?"  
  
"I don't know, 5 years later he shows up and he blows up Wolfram and Hart, literally."  
  
Xander ceased his raving, "Wait a minute, isn't Wolfram and Hart. bad guys?"  
  
Buffy nodded.  
  
Willow then looked at Xander. "H-he has a point. If Wolfram and Hart is evil, then wouldn't Spike still be good if he got rid of them?"  
  
Buffy shrugged, "I don't know, maybe.Angel just sounded really worried."  
  
Everyone nodded and no more questions were asked for now.  
  
~~~  
  
That night, William silently appeared in the cell that Faith was kept in. She suddenly woke up and sat up in surprise. Before she could attack him, he froze her body, except for her eyes.  
  
William quietly approached her. "I'm going to make a deal with you, so listen carefully if you value your life."  
  
Faith blinked a few times, since it was the only thing she could do.  
  
William continued, "I'm going to give you the opportunity to start over again, with a family and be a pretty normal kid growing up. But you will retain your current memories. I found a little four-year-old girl, whose spirit has already moved on, but she's still in a coma. I could put your spirit into her body, you would more or less freed of your past, your duty and have a new family. Or you could stay in your current body, where I am planning to kill you immediately. So you'll either be dead or a little girl. And you can use her life to redeem your actions. What you say slayer?"  
  
William released here body from its frozen state. Luckily for him, she didn't scream or fight him, she just smiled and crossed her arms. "So what are you waiting for? Introduce me to my new life."  
  
William smirked and pulled Faith's spirit out of her body. Causing her empty shell to fall bonelessly into a dead heap. Then they both disappeared from the jail cell and reappeared in the hospital.  
  
The little girl lay limp, surrounded by blipping machines that indicated that the body was still alive. William motioned to the little girl and Faith's laid down and overlapped the little girl's body and began to slowly disappear.  
  
Faith's spirit gasped as the memories of the young girl flooded to her: picking daisies for her mother, being pushed on the swings by her father, playing in the sand with the other preschoolers and finally a dark figure pushing her out the window. and then blank  
  
William whispered to the girl, "Your new name is Lily, now open your eyes."  
  
Faith, in Lily's opened her unused eyes with much difficulty.  
  
Once Faith opened her eyes, she just stared at William. "This is too weird, I know more than a 4 year old, I'm going to be a freak." Lily, or Faith, mumbled in her tiny 4 year old voice  
  
"We'll see, if you really have trouble with adjusting, I can make you forget who you originally were. But just test it for a bit, I'm going to leave now."  
  
Before Faith could answer, she heard the sound of rushed footsteps.  
  
William spoke quickly, "Just act innocent, confused, like a normal 4 year old. No street tough girl."  
  
William disappeared from the room right before the doctors barged in and gasped at the miracle.  
  
~~~  
  
Angel looked disturbed, as he rubbed his eyes and put down the phone.  
  
Gunn walked in and sensed Angel's brooding. "What's wrong."  
  
"Faith is dead."  
  
"How?!"  
  
Angel shrugged, "Police and doctors don't know, they say that she wasn't injured, no bruises, no disease. she just died."  
  
"Oh. well, she was. sort of a bad guy. why are you so worried, we can get a newer and better slayer now."  
  
Angel sighed, "I have a feeling that this is no coincidence. It might be the same guy who destroyed Wolfram and Hart."  
  
"What?!"  
  
"I know it doesn't make sense! But I have this feeling!"  
  
Gunn chewed on his lower lip, "I'll go do some research, but still, it's pretty farfetched."  
  
Cont.  
  
Yet another note!!!!!!: I know, that was sooo Smallville, I totally love that scene though. Genius! Just genius! Yah. anyways.  
  
And another note!: Why did I do that to Faith? I don't really like her, and I'm sick of her, I would have killed her off completely, but then Angel and Buffy would have been going for Will's head, soo. I just tossed her somewhere else. Besides, I WANT TO SEE A NEW SLAYER DAGNAMMIT!!! Kay. bai bai 


	5. chapter 5

Chapter 5  
  
Note: sort of short chapter. enjoy.  
  
Lucifer glared at William as he walked into the parking lot .  
  
"She's alive!"  
  
"Technically yes. I finished the job didn't I?"  
  
"Yes. but."  
  
"Don't worry, a new slayer will still be called. It's the body that's the weapon, not the person's spirit."  
  
"I see that you did some research."  
  
"Yes, a lot. Very interesting stuff. and I used to think that there were only Immortal watchers. But no, there are also vampire slayer watchers. You'd think they'd be a little more original with the name."  
  
Lucifer huffed, "Alright alright. Yes you got the job done."  
  
"Well?"  
  
"Well what?"  
  
"My reward."  
  
". I didn't specify whether I would tell you after which job." Lucifer grinned, baiting William  
  
William pulled out a sword that was lying hidden in the trunk of his car. "Wrong answer. I always get what I want."  
  
"Touché"  
  
William laughed a little as he examined his sword. "One more chance."  
  
"Are you threatening me mortal?"  
  
William didn't answer, in a flash he disappeared and reappeared above Lucifer, sword poised a ready to slash him in half. Lucifer rolled his eyes as he materialized his own sword and struck upward.  
  
As William was falling, he angled his foot, so that he could kick away from Lucifer's sword. Then he gracefully back-flipped and landed with barely a click from his shoes. Lucifer stalked over to him. "Not bad. but lets make this more interesting, no weapons."  
  
William tilted his head a little and raised a scarred eyebrow. Lucifer threw his sword into the air and it disappeared without a trace. William then finally tossed his sword over to this car. William came back quietly and asked, "Fist fighting are we?"  
  
"No, just anything other than using weapons."  
  
William shoved his hands into his suit, "I see."  
  
Lucifer leaped forward as slashed at William with his very sharp and long claws. William only calmly leaped back, inches away from the claws.  
  
"Come on!" Lucifer shouted, "Fight back."  
  
William took his hands out of his pockets and shrugged.  
  
Lucifer mentally laughed 'this is too easy, he doesn't even know how to fight without weapons, and yet he takes my challenge. Arrogant and suicidal.'  
  
Lucifer shook his head, "Alright, I'll take pity on you. You can even land the first 2 blows on me and I won't even fight back."  
  
William hesitantly walked towards Lucifer until they were only a foot apart. Lucifer haughtily held his hands out. "Come on weakling. You think you're rich and rule the word. Twirling that stupid sword of yours like a pansy. I bet you can't even bruise me."  
  
William's face remained blank and neutral.  
  
"Well?! What are you waiting for?" Lucifer laughed.  
  
William hands darted out in a flash and pressed a pressure point on Lucifer's neck.  
  
"Is that the bes." Lucifer's eyes widened. "I can't move."  
  
William smiled. "That's only my first hit."  
  
"That's freaking cheating. Unfreeze me you worm!"  
  
William just held his palm out flat, parallel to Lucifer's chest, only an inch away.  
  
"This is my second hit." William stated in monotone  
  
Before Lucifer could say anything, a blast impacted him so hard that he was knocked unconscious. Every fiber of him screamed in pain as the darkness came.  
  
William looked down at Lucifer's body for a few seconds and then with a sharp click of his heel, he turned around and left.  
  
~~~  
  
Fred happily walked into the apartment, but her expression soon changed when she saw the solemn group, "Ummm. guys, are you okay?"  
  
Gunn walked over and hugged her, "Sort of, well, not really. Angel's worse, it seems that there's a really powerful bad guy in town."  
  
Fred quietly glanced at Angel's pacing figure.  
  
"I hope so.. Anyways, how was your trip?"  
  
"Oh, Lorne is just fine. He actually is going to visit. He'll be here in a few days, you know, just to check up.on us."  
  
"Angel.um already called Buffy and her friends, they'll be here as soon as her ex-watcher meets up with her."  
  
Fred nodded quietly, "This is really serious isn't it? Who is this guy?"  
  
"Not too sure, but Angel suspects that it might be 'family'."  
  
Fred clutched onto Gunn's arm a little harder as a sinking feeling came over her.  
  
~~~  
  
Cordy worried her lower lip as she thought about the situation. "I still don't think that it's him."  
  
Wesley shrugged. "Well, I don't know. I'm thinking that your judgment might be impaired by how kind he was."  
  
"NO!. look, I just have this feeling."  
  
"Well. there could be another way to confirm it."  
  
Cordy looked at Wesley with much interest. "How?"  
  
"We could go out to lunch with him and we could bring the team along, Buffy and her friends. And then we could assess the situation."  
  
"Isn't that a little overwhelming? I mean between Angel Investigations and the Scoobies, we have about a dozen people."  
  
Wesley shrugged, "It was just an idea." ~~~  
  
William silently studied the top managers that were talking to him.well, more like trying to weasel out of doing their damn job.  
  
"Well sir, I mean, if the stock for that company goes down." the manager pitifully assumed.  
  
William slammed his hand down on the table. "I don't want to hear 'the worst case scenario when I know there isn't going to be one. We've spent the last 10 months building things to this stage. If there is a problem, tell me the solution, don't whine and simper about how it could become worse! Your jobs are to fix the problems!"  
  
Another, older manager spoke up, "It just doesn't seem very viable now sir, your father would have."  
  
"My father's archaic ways no longer work in today's business world. Or did you not learn that lesson the last time you failed to acquire MGE Inc. And who are you to assume that this takeover will fail. You have only been on this project for the last few weeks! Whereas, I've followed this damn thing through the beginning, we are going to buy out Kai Corp.! Don't you ever question my authority again old man!"  
  
The old manager shrank away from William's wrath and mumbled several useless apologies.  
  
"This meeting is adjourned." William venomously spat out as he exited the meeting room.  
  
On the way out William's secretary handed him the phone. "A Miss Cordelia Chase is on the phone."  
  
William took a deep breath, dispelling the anger that was boiling in him after screaming at his yellow-bellied managers, and picked up the phone.  
  
"Hi Ms. Chase, it's nice to speak to you again.. Uh huh. lunch with you and some of your friends?. when? . next Wednesday?"  
  
William's secretary immediately checked William's schedule and gave an approving nod.  
  
"Yes I'm free next Wednesday..uh huh. alright, see you then."  
  
Without asking, William's secretary quickly typed , "Lnch mting" into William's schedule.  
  
William smiled at her. "Thanks Sharon, even when the world is falling apart and no one even remembers what their real job is, I can always count on you. What would I do without you?"  
  
Sharon lowered her glasses and seriously looked him in the eye, "You'd starve. Your dinner is in your office. And I do suggest having more than one meal a day and more than 4 hours of sleep."  
  
William laughed as he walked down the hall, "Eating and sleeping are way too over-rated."  
  
~~~  
  
Lucifer gave a pained moan as he slowly came to, the sky was already dark.  
  
"Shit", he muttered. Slowly he sat up and remembered the events that had occurred not too long ago. 'well maybe quiet a while ago.' Lucifer thought as he realized that he was out of it for the last 6 or 7 hours.  
  
After stifling some of the pain, he slowly stood up. "Great, I haven't been trashed like that since."  
  
Lucifer's eyes widened, "No it can't be. can it?"  
  
He took a few steps forward, "Yes, maybe that's it. That explains how he could beat the crap out of me, and all that disappearing stuff. Damn. but why would they possess him?"  
  
Lucifer shook his head as he disappeared from the parking lot. 'Why the hell would a demon god possess William for? Damn, now I have to go figure out which one possessed him.' ~~~~  
  
Outside of the airport in San Diego a 16 year old girl swiftly rode her newly bought bicycle northward.  
  
A medium sized black cat poked his head out of the basket and spoke, "Can we rest yet? I mean we can't get to San Francisco in 5 days, no matter how hard you push. And I don't want to get killed on the highway. I know you're tired."  
  
"Shut up Koko," The raven haired girl muttered. He hair was cropped very short and it sort of bounced like a puff ball as the wind passed by her hair. She was wearing a dark blue blouse blouse that was tied with a brown leather cord at the waist. Along the edges of her blouse, there golden colored star, moon and sun patterns. She wore black jeans pants and carried a worn, dark red messenger bag that was clearly overstuffed.  
  
"But Aoide, I'm hungry," the cat raised his voice to a higher pitch.  
  
Aoide* shoved the straw basket close, which smacked her cat in the head.  
  
"If you don't let me eat, I'm gong to chew a hole in your basket! And then I'm going to eat your hand!" The cat screamed from within.  
  
Aoide spotted a diner and parked her bike. Then she got off and listened to her cat in the basket. The furious shaking from within indicated that indeed Koko was chewing on the basket. Annoyed, Aoide locked the lid of basket and unlatched it from her bike, then she threw it into the air and spun it a couple of times.  
  
Finally, she unlocked the basket and dumped out her dizzy cat.  
  
"If I ever catch you chewing on this basket again; I'll play baseball with it, with you locked inside. Got it?!"  
  
The cat wobbly nodded and mutely followed her into the diner  
  
~~~ Cont..  
  
* Aoide-In Greek mythology she was one of the original three muses, the muse of song. 


	6. chapter 6

Chapter 6  
  
Note: Uhh. changed the summary on the front a little, technically doesn't go back to Sunnydale first. yada yada. so. yeah. ch.6  
  
Tuesday Evening  
  
Giles wiped his again for the seventh time, "So let me get this straight, all of us are going to meet Spike for lunch tomorrow at this French restaurant"  
  
Buffy paled, " I don't think I have enough money for something 'that' expensive."  
  
Cordy shook her head, "First of all, his name is William, he just looks like Spike. And second of all, we'll pay for yours, Dawn's and Willow's lunch. Don't worry about it."  
  
Xander's brow furrowed, "Now, why such a fancy place? I mean, the Evil Dead would probably have a better time at a bar or maybe in some back alley."  
  
Wesley gave a sheepish look, "Well, actually, like Cordy said, we don't think that he's Spike and that's not the impression we got when we went to the Monet Gallery."  
  
Angel just shrugged, "Look, we need to figure out if he's Spike, if he's on our side and a bunch of other things. I guess confronting him is the best idea. Why don't you guys just stop worrying and get settled in the hotel. We'll worry about this tomorrow?"  
  
~~~ "Hey Grandpa" William called out as he entered his Grandfather's apartment.  
  
"Son! I'm here in the kitchen."  
  
William swiftly walked to the kitchen and found his grandfather sitting on the bar stool, reading a TIME magazine and eating some eggs.  
  
William smiled, "Interesting article?"  
  
"Yes very. It's about you."  
  
"Oh. that article. Lets see what Stephanie Fieldman had to say about me." William said as he reached for the magazine.  
  
Owen smacked his hand. "Hey, you can read it after I'm done."  
  
William mock pouted and Owen glanced at him.  
  
"You won't like what you read anyways, she's being quite a vicious bitch in this article."  
  
"That's probably because I only gave her a five minute interview."  
  
Owen shrugged. "Maybe. Here, she's saying how you're such a ruthless businessman and she's even calling your techniques 'Machiavellian'."  
  
"And you're saying that they aren't."  
  
Owen gave an annoyed sigh. "I know that we must use such tactics to stay above the rest, but this is bad P.R., we need the public to see us in a good light."  
  
William nodded. "I know, I'll take care of Ms. Fieldman. Don't worry Gramps, she'll be out of our hair soon."  
  
Owen raised an eyebrow. "Don't kill her."  
  
William gave a hearty laugh as he began to leave Owen's penthouse. "Kill her?! When tormenting her is so much better?"  
  
"Oh and one more thing!" Owen called out.  
  
William's head popped back in, "Yes?"  
  
"I heard that there's been some dangerous activity going on in L.A., a whole law firm was murdered. I'd feel safer if you took Marci with you to your lunch meeting with these strangers."  
  
William gave a mock annoyed sigh. "Alright Gramps, you're the boss."  
  
~~~  
  
As William sat in his limo with three other bodyguards, he sipped his scotch slowly while looking out at the L.A. scene. Mercy rowed down the window that was separating them, "We'll be there in about 10 minutes sir."  
  
William nodded, then he glanced at the TIME magazine that was sitting next to him. Swiftly he whipped out his cell phone.  
  
"Hey Sharon,"  
  
"Yes?"  
  
"I want you to look up all the Information you can find on Sharon Fieldman. Everything, from her bank account number to what size shoes she wears, got that?"  
  
"Everything eh? Alright. I'm really going to be pushing for that bonus you know."  
  
"Why are you even pushing for it hun? You're already getting it."  
  
Sharon smiled on the other line, "Thank you William."  
  
"You're welcome." William happily replied back. He really had no qualms in giving raises, as long as his employees did their job and pulled their weight more often, they'd get their raise. But then, of course, it was human nature to be lazy.  
  
'Maybe Sharon is not human.' William mused.  
  
Marci turned around as the limo stopped, "Sir, we're there."  
  
William nodded as he exited the limo, magazine in hand, Marci and another bodyguard walked ahead and two other bodyguards followed closely behind. Marci walked over to the Valet and gave him the keys to the limo.  
  
They silently walked into the restaurant. William looked at the French styled décor, "Nice place," he said to himself.  
  
The person at the reception desk asked, "Um how many?"  
  
"Four for them, but I'm also meeting someone. Is she there in your book, under Ms. Chase?"  
  
"Oh yes. She came with a fairly large group, they're upstairs"  
  
William nodded and followed one of the waiters who led them up to be seated. ~~~  
  
Dawn fidgeted in her seat, they were all seated at an extremely large round table upstairs. She sat right across from where Spi- William would be seated. Seated to her right was Xander, Tommy, Anya, Gunn, Fred, and Cordy and to her left Buffy, Willow, Giles, Wesley and Angel. There were two vacant seats, it turned out that Lorne was really tired from his trip, so he stayed at the hotel.  
  
Dawn could tell that everyone else was just as nervous as she was, Buffy especially. She was more than uncomfortable that Angel was paying for their dinner at such a fancy place. A few times, Giles tried to strike up a conversation, but no one really participated; lost in their own thoughts. They finally decided to remain quiet.  
  
Tommy was the only one that was making any sound, he was a little confused at the inactivity and looked back and forth between his parents. Finally, for the first time since they came on this trip, Willow spoke up, "Is that him?"  
  
Cordy stood up and walked over to the stairs for a better look, the group then crowded around the window that looked downstairs, they could see him walk out of limo and into the sunlight in his gray Armani suit and dark blue shirt.  
  
On the side, Giles commented, "Well at least that throws out the notion that he might be a vampire."  
  
Dawn looked at the bodyguards, "What are they for?"  
  
Cordy looked a little baffled too, " I don't know."  
  
Then she gave a sheepish shrug and returned to look at William entering the restaurant. William talked to the person at the desk for a few seconds and one of the waiters began to bring him up.  
  
Wesley motioned to their table, "We better get back to our seats, it would look strange if he found us crowding around and staring at him."  
  
Everyone agreed and they swiftly returned to their table.  
  
A few seconds later, they saw a female and male bodyguard at the top of the stairs and William only a step behind. Cordy stood up and walked over to William to shake his hand. "Hi, William I'm glad you could make it."  
  
William smiled, "Hello Ms. Chase, I'm glad to meet you again."  
  
Then William looked over at the table, "Wow, we seem to have a huge party."  
  
Cordy blushed, "Sorry, I should have warned you."  
  
William shook his head, "Don't worry about it, the more the merrier hm?"  
  
William slightly tilted his head while looking at bodyguard in front. The bodyguard nodded his head and the three men took a seat at the three tables that were closest to the large circular table that Cordy's friends sat at. William and Marci walked over to the group.  
  
Cordy nervously rubbed her hands together, "You guys, this is William Dale."  
  
William gave a polite smile and gestured toward Marci, "This is Marci Loraine, my personal bodyguard."  
  
Cordy nodded, "Um this is the Harris family: Xander, Tommy and Anya. That's Charles Gunn, Winifred Burkle. The two sisters are Dawn and Buffy Summers, next to them is Willow Rosenberg, Rupert Giles, Angel and you've already met Wesley."  
  
William politely shook hands with everyone and politely said his "Hello's" and finally to Wesley a "Good to see you again." On the side, Marci just slightly nod to each person William shook hands with. Once seated, William placed his magazine under his chair. Eventually everyone seated themselves and the waiter came by to take everyone's order on drinks.  
  
Cordy spoke up, "So, how is your stay in L.A. so far?"  
  
William smiled, "Wonderful, I've gotten a lot more done than I expected." In the back of his mind he laughed as he recalled his hostile take over last week.  
  
Cordy nodded as she sipped her water daintily.  
  
Cordy smiled again and returned to their small talk.  
  
"So, do you work?" Cordy inquired.  
  
William laughed, "Yes, of course I work. Actually I'm the current owner of LuminaCorp."  
  
The group was silent, not recognizing the name.  
  
"Ah, I guess we're only known on the east coast and no one reads Business Weekly."  
  
Cordy sipped her water again, "Sorry."  
  
"Oh don't be, It just shows that LuminaCorp should try to reach out more to West Coast. It was my Grandfather's dream, but now he feels that he's too old to go through with it, so he just sort of resigned and handed the business over to me."  
  
Cordy's eyes widened, "Wow."  
  
The others nodded, but mentally, they all just brushed it off as a minor fortune from some dot com company.  
  
William raised an eyebrow, "Enough about me, what about you. What's your job."  
  
"We'll, I'm apart of the Angel Investigations team."  
  
William looked over at Angel and then back at Cordy. "Are all of you in Angel Investigations?"  
  
Cordy shook her head, "Oh no no, It's just me Angel, Wesley, Gunn, Fred and Lorne. sort of."  
  
"Lorne?" William asked, remembering that he hadn't heard that name in the group.  
  
"Oh, he's not here today, he was feeling a little. green this morning."  
  
Gunn quickly squeezed his lip together to keep himself from laughing at Cordy's attempt to walk around the truth. Angel slightly snorted.  
  
William noticed the tiny reactions but decided to pretend he had not seen it. "Oh, I'm sorry he couldn't make it."  
  
Meanwhile, Xander and Anya were quietly talking to Tommy and Willow was quietly talking to Giles.  
  
Dawn just kept drinking water, trying to not cry. He looked like Spike, except for the dark brown hair and no accent, she was hoping from the bottom of her heart that he would somehow recognize her. But as he was shaking her hand, his eyes showed no recognition at all. His handshake was stiff and formal, like he really had never met her before. She had expected him from the bottom of her heart that he would say. "Hi my Little Bit." But no. just "Hello Miss." As he was talking to Cordy, she sort of realize that maybe this wasn't Spike at all, he sounded like had had an entirely different life from any them.  
  
Buffy was also quiet and a little mopey, she was pretending to read her menu with much interest, but her brain didn't process any of the words. She could occasionally glance up at Cordy and William avidly talking and at Angel who was quietly brooding and studying William. She hated this, she knew that once he smoothly said 'Hello Ms. Summers' to her as he shook her hand, he didn't recognize her at all. He couldn't be Spike. Spike called her anything else but Ms. Summers. And not to mention, he did the same thing with Dawn. She could see the devastation that Dawn was feeling at the moment. And she also knew that Dawn was silently cursing her for sending him away all those years ago.  
  
"Ms. Summers, Ms. Summers?" William asked her.  
  
Buffy and Dawn snapped out of their thoughts. "Yes?" They both asked.  
  
William tilted his head towards the waiter, "Are you ready to order yet?"  
  
Buffy looked back down at her menu, she furrowed her brow as she flipped back an forth, everything on the menu cost between 30 to 100 dollars. 'God, it was just food!'  
  
Buffy shrugged, "I'm not sure what to order. Why don't you come back to me later."  
  
William shrugged, but his eyes studied her. "Alright."  
  
After everyone, including Dawn ordered, Buffy hesitated again.  
  
William leaned forward a little, "Ms. Summers, don't worry I'm paying for all of this. Just order anything you want."  
  
Buffy ordered a salad and lamb and quietly gave her menu to the waiter.  
  
Once the waiter walked away Cordy lightly smacked William on the arm. "We invited you to lunch. Why are you paying?!"  
  
William rolled his eyes, "Please let me pay, I'd feel insulted if you paid."  
  
"But that's about three hundred dollars right there, I can't."  
  
"No, I'm paying." William's voice was dead serious this time.  
  
The rest of the table was silent from tension.  
  
William laughed, "I mean, what's money for, if you can't spend it?"  
  
"But you alone can't possibly pay that much for one meal." Anya insisted.  
  
"Why not?"  
  
"Well, we were going to split the check amongst us."  
  
William shook his head. "Like I said, I'd feel insulted. Really..."  
  
Finally the group acquiesced and William seemed satisfied. Dinner eventually came, but William seemed to only talk to Cordy. Finally Dawn sort of felt lonely, having no one to talk and spoke up.  
  
"So, do you have a family?"  
  
William looked up and he turned to Dawn. "Yeah I do. well sort of."  
  
"Sort of?"  
  
"Well I didn't have a real family before, until I was adopted by Owen Dale. Before I lived with Leng and Shi-Fu."  
  
Angel looked a little disturbed, "That sounds Asian."  
  
"They are, I used to live in Canton before I studied abroad in Cambridge."  
  
"But you're not Asian."  
  
"No, I'm not, I'm still a little unclear about my past though. As far as I know, I just woke up in southern China with Leng standing over me and all she knew was that my name was William."  
  
Angel's eyes widened as the pieces began to fit together. "Well, how long ago was this?"  
  
"About 10 years ago."  
  
Angel began to smirk. But Buffy's eyes darkened, and she softly spoke, "Spike left only 5 years ago, it can't be him."  
  
Cordy turned to Buffy, "Really? Are you sure?"  
  
"Yeah, he left right before Willow went magic crazy."  
  
Cordy shook her head, "No that was ten years ago. You called me right after it happened."  
  
Buffy scoffed, "Why are you messing with my head?"  
  
"I'm not messing with your head. That was ten years ago."  
  
"No, it's not. It's 2006." The Harris family and Willow insisted.  
  
Angel's team, Giles and William shook their heads, "No, it's 2011"  
  
Buffy's pouted at Giles, "How can you take their side, you're one of us!"  
  
Giles knitted his brow, "This isn't about sides Buffy, this is about what's really happened. 10 years really have passed by. You know I wouldn't lie to you."  
  
Anya shook her head, "No way, I'm sure."  
  
Soon the group was arguing over what year it really was. In the arguing they never noticed William silently studying them and his eyes flashing violet for a few seconds.  
  
'So,' William thought as he looked at everyone's aura's ' The ones from Sunnydale seem to have been in a time anomaly, how interesting.'  
  
William glanced across again. 'Xander and Anya has fainter traces of the strange red aura, Tommy has even less. Dawn and Buffy have quite more, but Willow has the most. Actually, it looks like it's coming from her.'  
  
William silently filed that information away to be researched later when he had some spare time. After that William wave a waiter over and asked him to go across the street to buy that day's newspaper. The waiter happily accepted the $10 bill and went to retrieve the newspaper. The group was so involved in their argument that they barely noticed when the waiter returned with the newspaper.  
  
William quietly stood up, causing the group to become silent. He walked over to Buffy and pulled out a pen from his shirt pocket, circled the date on the newspaper, and handed it to her. Buffy's hands began to shake as she saw that it really was 2011.  
  
William finally spoke, "I'm sorry Ms. Summers that this is a shock to you."  
  
Buffy began to breathe heavily as the panic set in. "G-go away."  
  
William remained there, "Do you want me to get you some help or something to deal with this?"  
  
Buffy's mind raced, this couldn't be happening, she had just missed out about five years of whatever the hell was happening in the world just because she live in Sunnyhell. William was being an asshole under that polite exterior. She could hear the pity in his voice. She didn't need pity, especially from him. Not this evil, stupid.. Jerk. God, she didn't even know what to call him anymore.  
  
Then she felt a hand on her shoulder, even though his hand was warm, the gesture seemed cold. She violently shrugged off his hand and pushed him away.  
  
William glared down at her. "Are you alright?"  
  
"Leave me alone!" Buffy spat at him.  
  
William didn't even recoil like Spike usually did when she shouted at him. He just looked at her with cool, indifferent eyes, which probably pissed her off even more.  
  
She screamed at him even more, "You don't know anything! What do you think you are, my psychiatrist?! Leave me alone. I don't need your help, I don't need your money and I damn don't need your pity! Don't touch me your idiot!"  
  
She could hear Angel trying to hush her and her sister whispering, "Calm down Buffy." But, William was still unfazed. He raised an a eyebrow and shrugged, then he returned to his seat. The room was thick with tension, Buffy sank inter her chair and silently brooded, William just looked at he wine and would sip it a little and everyone else just kept looking back and forth not knowing what to do.  
  
Luckily, William's cell phone rang.  
  
Cont. 


	7. chapter 7

Chapter 7  
  
William pulled the cell phone out of his shirt pocket and snapped it open with ease.  
  
"William speaking." He sharply spoke into the phone before the person on the other line could comment.  
  
"Uh. Mr. Dale," the voice started with trepidation  
  
William immediately identified the old man's voice, "Jonehson, didn't I already inform you not to call me today until after lunch?"  
  
"Sorry sir, but."  
  
"But what?" William venomously cut him off.  
  
"You just. you can't do this. It's unmoral, you can't buy out Kai Corp."  
  
William eyes narrowed at Jonehson's insolent behavior, "You don't have the authority to call off this project, much less to lay the moral burden on me."  
  
"You can't just buy the company and then destroy it! Damn it man, you're going to put 20,000 in Kyoto out of a job!"  
  
William walked stood up and walked away from the table where everyone was staring at him. When he was sure he was out of hearing range from the group, he hissed into the phone. "Do I sound like I give a shit if 20,000 people loose their job. Maybe you should be more concerned about your job than theirs."  
  
William left the end unsaid, knowing that Jonehson knew his meaning.  
  
Jonehson sputtered at the other end, William could tell he was furious. " How dare you speak like that to your elders, I have been helping your fathe- "  
  
"I'm not my father." William cut him off.  
  
"No, you are a monster." Jonehson hissed.  
  
William looked at the phone with a bored expression and turned it off without finish the conversation.  
  
Then dialed another number.  
  
"Andrew." William spoke to the project leader.  
  
"Yes sir?"  
  
"Continue with the take over of Kai Corp, I'm in charge of the project, not that old man. Don't underestimate how expendable you are."  
  
"Yes sir," Andrew squeaked on the other line.  
  
"Good, now tell Jonehson to clean out his desk, he's fired."  
  
After those last words William abruptly shut off his phone and returned to the table.  
  
William sheepishly shrugged, "Sorry about that, I told them not to call me in the middle of lunch."  
  
Everyone else nodded with a few 'it's okay's, everyone except Angel. Angel had heard the entire conversation with his enhanced hearing and now he was growling softly while glaring at William.  
  
William continued with his polite conversation as their meals were brought to them. Finally, unable to stand William's false exterior. Angel banged his hand on the table.  
  
"I can't stand it anymore!" Angel shouted.  
  
Instantly Marci and the 3 bodyguards had their guns pointed directly at Angel. William called them off and returned to his meal.  
  
"What are you talking about Angel?" William asked innocently  
  
Angel abruptly stood up and William held out his hand, to keep Marci from pulling out her gun.  
  
Angel glared at William, "You're a monster, how could you do that?!"  
  
Giles looked up at Angel, "Do what?"  
  
"He's firing 20,000 people for no reason."  
  
Buffy's face dropped, horrified and in disgust. "What?"  
  
Cordy, "I'm sure there's a good reason."  
  
"Of course there's reason," William retorted, "It's business."  
  
Gunn frowned, "That's just sick man."  
  
Tommy started to cry at the out outbursts, so Xander tended to him instead of throw out one of his usual spiteful comments. Anya looked worriedly at her child. "Can you guys please calm down? You're scaring Tommy."  
  
Dawn was holding her sister's arm and telling her to "cool it" and Wesley was trying to do the same with Giles and Angel.  
  
"You bloody pillock, 'just business'? Do you understand ."  
  
William didn't look up, "This happen all the time, in every company. You just don't see it on the news very often because it's bad PR. Believe me, this is a run of the mill buy out, nothing special about it."  
  
"You're throwing away lives like their nothing. All those families." Angel started.  
  
William stood up and threw down his napkin. "I've had quite enough. It seems I've overstayed my welcome. "  
  
Then he turned to a worried Cordy. "Don't worry about it Ms. Chase, I'll still cover the expenses. I'll call you, I hope we can meet again under. less hostile circumstances."  
  
After that, William started for the stares with his bodyguards in tow and swiftly left the restaurant.  
  
Once the group saw William leave in the limo, Cordy lashed out at Angel. "What the hell was that?!"  
  
"He's going to."  
  
"I know what he's going to do! And if you have heard of business strategies, he was right. This is very common!" Cordy shouted at him.  
  
Angel glared at her, " You're taking his side because you like him."  
  
"What?!"  
  
"We all saw you flirting outrageously with him!"  
  
"Why do you care?"  
  
"Because I like you." Angel trailed off as he turned to Buffy and gasped, realizing he had accidentally let out his secret.  
  
Buffy quietly stood up with her gaze cast down and she ran out of the restaurant in tears. Dawn and the rest of the Scoobies quickly ran after her, leaving only Angel's team.  
  
Cordelia folded her arms, "Did you satisfy your green-eyed monster now?"  
  
Angel growled as he left the restaurant. Gunn and Fred quickly followed him.  
  
Cordy sighed as she put her elbows on the table and leaned her head into her palms. Wesley stood up and comforted her, "Look, I don't think William's a bad person and I don't think you ruined everything. He said he's meet you again later. You are right though, everyone could tell that Angel was jealous."  
  
Cordy sighed and Wesley helped her up.  
  
Cordy sighed, "Why does my life have to be such a mess?"  
  
Wesley shook his head, not knowing the answer.  
  
As Cordy stood up she stumbled over William's magazine. "Oh he dropped this." Cordy muttered, "I'll give it back to him the next time I see him."  
  
~~~  
  
William got back to his office and helped follow through with the rest of the buy out. Then he immediately fired Jonehson after he called a group of representatives to go to Kyoto to implement his new policies.  
  
It was frustrating day, not that he wanted to admit that Cordy's hostile friend got to him. But for once in his entire life, he felt lonely. He always had Leng and her family and Owen. But it wasn't really that. They were family. But Cory, she was a friend. He never really had friends, not even in college, he was the odd ball out. The guy with no memory of his past, no real memory and the bookworm; not to mention most of the people hated him because he always forced the grading curve up with his near perfect scores. After he had gotten rich, suddenly there were all these people who wanted to be his 'friends' to leech off of him. He liked being around Cordy, she didn't even know who he was, she was just. nice to him with no reason or motive. Wesley was courteous too, but not as nice. as well. But their friends seemed a little edgy.  
  
Slowly, William's mental rambling slowed as he fell asleep at his desk.  
  
~~~  
  
There was the soft sound of hard breathing, but he didn't need to breathe.  
  
Suddenly there was a flash in the lush green trees, he readied his bow and arrows. The creature leaped out of the shadows and charged at him in fury, it's sickening purple worms squirmed around it's enormous body.  
  
'Quickly, I have to run faster. Faster. It's gaining.'  
  
Three arrows are shot. Two bounce off of the creature's body, but one strikes right in the eye  
  
'Now, I'm too close, but I can see its eyes. Better opportunity now than ever. '  
  
One more arrow flies and blinds the other eye. The creature stops and falls where it stands. Some of the violet worm-like substance lands on my left wrist. It stings like acid.  
  
Soon the outer-layer of worms fall off the monsters body, leaving a unrecognizable humanoid. Its flesh has been eaten away. The humanoid screams in agony and rants in an unknown language. Then the rest of the body rots away in seconds, including the bones, leaving a sickening stench in the air.  
  
Death is thick in the air. Suddenly the pain in my arm increases ten folds, the violet worms are still on my wrist, eating away. I scream in agony and fall on my side. Leng rushes over with a large jar of cold water. The violet worms are washed off, but these brown stains are still there. I can feel it still there, the pain and the darkness. It's eating away inside. Can't breathe. Can't see. Can't scream.  
  
~~~ William suddenly woke up from his nightmare. He was covered in a light sheen of sweat.  
  
'Shit, he's remembering' he thought. Quickly, he dialed Leng's number.  
  
"Hello?"  
  
"Leng, It's me." William said, slightly panicked.  
  
"What's wrong." She asked, although she had an inkling of what might be wrong.  
  
"He's remembering, I need you to make that potion again."  
  
Leng sighed, "I don't know, is he not ready yet? I mean constantly dosing you every half a year can't be very healthy."  
  
"Look, it's either that or he'll go insane again. And no, he's not ready, he's more unstable now than ever, I don't know why though."  
  
Leng nodded, "Alright, but I can't leave until next week. Right now I'm constantly on call. Look, just try to cool down. Make sure he's okay. Maybe you can make him sleep for a bit."  
  
William sighed as he ran his fingers through his hair. "I'll see you soon."  
  
"Alright. Goodbye."  
  
"Bye."  
  
~~~~ 'I need to keep my mind off of things.' William thought as he swiftly trotted down to the garage. He fingered the keys to his new black Ferrari as he approached the car.  
  
He quickly got in and sped out of the building. 'Perhaps a drive down south of L.A. will do me some good.'  
  
~~~  
  
Aoide silently cried as she limped along the freeway. She had one hand out, hoping that someone would stop and help her. In her other hand, she cradled her semiconscious cat. He had fainted earlier because of dehydration and then a speeding truck had forced her off the road. He bike was ruined and he left leg was bleeding profusely. But that was the last thing on her mind.  
  
'I can't let Koko die, he's my best friend. I need to get him to a vet.' Aoide let out another sob.  
  
She had left her bike a few miles back. She wasn't too far from L.A., but she wasn't close either. Her right arm wavered a little, sore from holding it up for the last two hours.  
  
Suddenly a sleek back car pulled over behind her and a man with dark blond hair got out.  
  
~~~  
  
The first thing that William had noticed was that the girl was bleeding very badly, the second was that she was holding a small black bundle. Quickly, William pulled over and rushed to the girl.  
  
"Come one lets get you the hospital." William led her towards his car and made her sit down in the passenger seat. He quickly popped the trunk oven and pulled out a blanket and then he ran back and tied the blanket around her leg to staunch the bleeding.  
  
The girl whimpered and William looked up at her. "Don't worry, you'll be okay soon."  
  
She shook her head. "I'll be okay, can we go to the vet first?"  
  
William suddenly realized that the black bundle was actually a cat.  
  
He nodded as he quickly ran around to the driver's seat and they sped off to the closest vet.  
  
~~~  
  
By the time the vet came back from the examination room, Aoide had already healed totally.  
  
'Just like a slayer.' William thought. At first when he picked up the girl he hadn't realized that the girl was one. But after a while in the waiting room, he could sense it. She was surprisingly calm and quiet for a slayer. Most slayers were more outgoing since they were more hyperactive. 'Must be all that adrenaline constantly rushing through their veins.'  
  
Later when he had taken her to the restroom to clean her wound, he found that it was fading rather quickly, like I should have taken a week later instead of hours later. Aoide had looked away sheepishly and she had whispered, "I'm special. Please, don't tell."  
  
He had agreed, but he also knew that he had to find a way to hold onto her. There had to be a reason why Lucifer wanted her and he was the only person who could keep her out of Lucifer's hands. And perhaps, get some answers.  
  
The doctor was talking to Aoide and from the smile on her face, he knew that the girl's cat was alright. Her green eyes shined like emeralds. She was. pretty, exotic and well. very gypsy looking. But he felt nothing, he knew she was beautiful, but he really didn't react to her at all.  
  
He watched Aoide follow the doctor and walk out with the still unconscious cat. Later, at the desk, without any question or comment, he paid for the expenses of the care.  
  
Now, they were silently walking to his car.  
  
Aoide spoke up, "Thank you. I'll find a way to pay you back, as soon as I find a job."  
  
'There!' William thought, 'I can make her stay that way.'  
  
"I don't want you to pay me back," William started, "I would like you to stay with me for a little, help me out with a few things. I'm a very busy man, money doesn't much to me, but I would like someone to help me with some errands here and there."  
  
Aoide gaped.  
  
"I know, earlier you told me you wanted to go to San Francisco. But here, I'm offering you a job. If you really want to, you can pay me back using the money you earn from working for me."  
  
"You mean it?" Aoide whispered.  
  
"Yes I do. I also know you're special. With my resources, I can protect you. If you think about it: if someone else were to find out about your abilities, what's to stop them from turning you over to the government and dissecting you."  
  
Aoide shuddered. "What's stopping you from doing the same?"  
  
William smiled and cryptically answered, "Because I'm special too."  
  
~~~~  
  
Lilah fumed silently in her apartment for the millionth time, only her and about ten other associates hadn't been killed in the massacre. Everything was gone, Lindsay was dead too. She had survived because she had gone out during that time for a few drinks. But when she returned, blood was all over the ground and the entire Wolfram and Hart building was destroyed, even the 'white room'. Then she saw Angel and his team come from that direction and then walk away in a hurry.  
  
Damn him! Angel and all he cared about would pay.  
  
~~~ Cont.  
  
Note: Ah. yes, it turns out that I did want to include Connor after seeing a few episodes of Angel. I'll try to fill in a few things for those who don't watch. 


	8. chapter 8

Chapter 8  
  
Note: WOW! Great guess Soulwarrior. You're right about almost everything, but Leng isn't a goddess, she's an immortal ( I mentioned earlier that there'd be a few Highlander undertones). Lucifer is.well Lucifer. Michael isn't a god, think about it. in fact, look up the definition of Michael. Yes, there is a reason why Michael is keeping Spike in check and I'll explain it soon enough with a flashback chapter. Enjoy.  
  
Sorry, short chapter, my Cisco class is really time consuming and the next few chapters after this are pretty dark and intense. Don't worry, I'm continuing.  
  
~~~ 2 weeks later  
  
Dear Diary,  
  
William's really cool, he's offered me this great job where all I have to do is help him take care of his Grandpa and run a few errands. I practically do nothing at all and yet I get paid about $2,000 a week and he's nice enough not to make me pay rent. So the money I earn, I can use to buy anything I want. Last week, he took me out to get some clothes, shopping with him is awesome, because I can buy almost anything I want.  
  
Oh and we also got some cat supplies. Koko is like. the world's biggest idiot, I kept tell him how he's not suppose to talk in front of people. and what does he do when finds out that William is helping me? He say's "Thank you." And what's even more weird is that Will (should I call him that? He seems so formal, I almost feel bad for shortening his name. oh well, just for journal purposes.) didn't really react. It's like he knew that Koko could talk. He did say something about how talking animals are rare, but not unheard of. Maybe he has seen other talking animals. I donno  
  
Will's house is like. how do put it?. really sleek and sterile, but it's understandable, he's hardly ever at home. He has a library that's practically separated into 2 parts. One with cool books and one with all this boring philosophy junk. Now cool books are all these classical stuff and I also found this secret stash of random stuff that he likes. It's behind this little trap door under the bottom left of his 3rd bookshelf. There's like, a Memento DVD, a collection of random Monty Python stuff (He's even got the script to Monty Python and the Holy Grail! *Snickers.*), there's also all these random fantasy books, he's got the "On a Pale Horse" collection by Piers Anthony (I've got to read that sometime), and Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (I laughed for like. ten minutes when I realized that he used a towel for a bookmark.). Oops, he's calling me, he wants to go out to dinner tonight. I'll write some other time.  
  
Aoide  
  
~~~~~~  
  
Aoide looked across at William, apparently, he wasn't paying any attention to her. He was quietly mumbling to himself as he was reading the business section. Ah yes, it was like this every night. He's always be working, he hardly ever stopped, not even to eat. It's like he needed to be reading or doing work or yelling at someone on the telephone during every meal. It was awfully boring to eat with him.  
  
Finally when the food came, Aoide spoke up, "How come. so far, every restaurant we've been to is an Italian restaurant."  
  
Will shrugged, " I like Italian."  
  
"Yeah, but. it's like you go out of your way to eat Italian food."  
  
"So I have an affinity to Italian food, do you have a problem with it?"  
  
"No, it's just weird."  
  
"Why?" William's tone becoming a little hostile  
  
"I donno, I guess I've been eating Cantonese food all my life. and then suddenly I'm eating dish after dish after dish of pasta. I don't know if I can stand this for much longer." Aoide said as she shrank back a little  
  
William cursed himself for being so cold and hostile to everyone he knew.  
  
"Sorry about that. I'll take you to an Asian place."  
  
Aoide nodded, "Thank you."  
  
William didn't even look up as he talked, "I'm going to meet some friends on Wednesday, you're going to come with me. Dress in something semicasual.  
  
Aoide sarcastically replied, "Sure, I don't have anything better to do boss. It's not like I have a life"  
  
William nodded, "Perfect. I guess that means I can give you more errands."  
  
Aoide groaned as she rolled her eyes, 'me and my big mouth.'  
  
~~~ Cordy hummed a little as she worked through the files on the desk, then she noticed the magazine that William had left. 'Oops, I must have forgotten about this.'  
  
Cordy hmmmed a little and then decided to look in the magazine, she was pretty bored right now, anything was better than going through these files.  
  
She flipped through a few pages, 'Let's see. political problems. new diet method. new movie that's out. Luminacorp. Wait a minute, isn't that William's company?'  
  
She intently read the article. 'William Dale, the youngest billionaire in the world, is now sweeping the West coast as he buys out company after company.. Surrogate son to Owen Dale who always dreamed of expand their efforts to the west coast..'  
  
Suddenly the phone rang, causing Cordy to yelp in surprise. She tentatively looked at the phone and picked it up on the fourth ring.  
  
"Angel Investigations." Cordy said.  
  
"Hello Ms. Chase, I promised I'd contact you again."  
  
"O-oh, h-hi William." Cordy stuttered. The situation was immensely awkward now that she realized how powerful he was.  
  
"Are you alright? You sound frightened."  
  
"No, just a little tired. Yeah, I stutter when I'm tired."  
  
"Oh, alright. Look, I'm not busy on Wednesday. Would you and some friends like to accompany me to dinner and the opera?"  
  
"S-sure. but I don't know if my friends are so willing, umm, I'll ask?"  
  
"Oh yes. well, how about this. I'll officially invite you, Wesley, Ms. Rosenberg, the Harris's and Ms. Summer and whomever else would like to come, can."  
  
"Um, which Summer?"  
  
"The younger one, she seems to be more mellow than her sister."  
  
Cordy nodded, "A-alright, we'll see you on Wednesday."  
  
Cordy nervously hung up the phone and then let out a huge sigh. ~~~ (Wednesday)  
  
William had the limo driver go over in front of Angel investigations to pick up his guests instead of seeing to them himself. He wanted to avoid as much conflict as possible.  
  
Even as Dawn happily rushed to the door Buffy still begged her not to go that night. Dawn refused, "Under law, I am old enough to make my decisions. And I want to go out tonight. You might have problems with him, but I don't."  
  
Buffy turned to Willow, "Come on, tell her not to go."  
  
Willow shrugged, "I don't know, actually I'm going too."  
  
"e tu, Willow?!"  
  
Willow winced, "I'm sorry, but he seemed really nice and all. I'll watch Dawn, you don't have to worry about her."  
  
At that moment Anya cooed Tommy as she helped straightened his clothes. Buffy gaped at Anya and Xander.  
  
"You're going too?!"  
  
"Yeah Buff. You know, get the scoop on the guy. See if I can find out if he really is some devious evil undead monster."  
  
Buffy nodded nervously. "Are you sure you're going to be all right?"  
  
Cordy sighed, "Look Buffy. If you're so worried, why don't you come along?"  
  
Buffy glared at the woman who was currently the object of Angel's affections. "No thank you."  
  
Cordy shrugged and then turned to group. "Come on, let's go. We don't want to be late."  
  
Buffy muttered as she unhappily as she watched the group retreat.  
  
~~~ William had invited them to some posh restaurant where you had to have reservations at least half a year before in order to get in. The inside was huge with chandeliers all over the place, with beautiful silverware and feasts fit for a king. The group was a little nervous as the matre'd led them to the back of the restaurant where a set of winding stairs led them to the rooftop.  
  
Dawn's face lit up instantly when she saw that the rooftop of the restaurant was actually a huge garden. There were only 3 very large tables there, which were surrounding the fountain in the center. Small lights, candles and several tiki lamps surrounded the private garden, lighting up the entire place and giving it a mystical glow.The other two tables were occupied with other guests and the at the third table sat William and another girl.  
  
The group headed towards William and they all reintroduced themselves to Aoide. Dawn chose to sit right next to William, the Harris family sat together and Cordy and Wesley seated themselves to the right of Aoide.  
  
Soon the group began to animatedly talk throughout dinner. ~~~  
  
  
  
William smiled as he handed the credit card to the attractive waitress. Then he turned back to Xander, "That's very fascinating Mr. Harris. I don't think I've ever met anyone that has built such a good career in carpentry and architecture without receiving an education."  
  
Xander bit into his cheek, finding William's comment a little insulting. Before he could retort, William pulled out a business card.  
  
"Actually, I have a friend who just bought land down in Orange County and wants to build his dream mansion. I know he'll pay handsomely. I mean, after what I heard from you tonight. I'm quite convinced that you're the man for the job, you obviously know what you're doing. And if you do a great job, I'm pretty sure that he can inform a lot of his friends who also want something done. It's so hard to find a good, honest help these days.  
  
Xander gaped as he took the card. "T-thanks. man, I mean. Wow."  
  
"Oh which reminds me," William mumbled as he reached under his chair and tossed a heavy leather bound book to Willow. She caught it and looked at the cover with curiosity.  
  
"What is this?"  
  
"Have a look." William answered simply  
  
The other Scoobies edged closer to Willow, trying to look at the book also.  
  
Willow paled as she flipped through the first few pages, then she closed the book and pushed it away from her.  
  
"I don't do magic anymore." She said, her voice was serious and somewhat angry. "I'm not a witch anymore."  
  
"Once a witch always a witch." William said simply. His eyes were a little menacing. "Keep the book."  
  
Willow looked mortified, "No!"  
  
"Look, you're the one causing the time anomaly. You ever look up power overloading? Discharges? And witch depression? I know that you're causing it, take the book."  
  
Willow whimpered, "I can't, I might become addicted again, and this time I wouldn't be able to stop at all. I might kill everyone! I can't do black spells again. So. so take your evil b-book b-back."  
  
Willow was shaking a little, frightened at her own outburst and also from knowing that she was the cause of her friend's problems.  
  
William started to laugh. "Didn't you even read the book? You just suddenly saw spells and immediately thought they were for black magic?"  
  
"Aren't they?"  
  
"For God's sake, I'm not stupid, why the hell would I give you a black magic book?"  
  
Anya picked up the spell book. "What do you mean? Is there any other kind of magic?"  
  
"Of course. White magic."  
  
Willow rolled her eyes. "William, that's just a myth. All magic is usually black magic."  
  
"You see, that's where you're wrong. A long time ago there were both white and black magic witches, but they were enemies. Eventually, the black magic witches found a way to seduce most of the white magic witches to using black magic. That's because when you do black magic, you get this sort of addicting thrill; like doing crack. Anyways, eventually the black magic witches burned all of the white magic books. well, almost all of them. I've managed to attain one of the last ones, and believe me, they're very difficult to come upon. So take the book, besides, it's not possible to suddenly stop doing magic after using such high doses of it, it causes anomalies and extreme depression in the long run. And I figured, why don't you transfer over to using white magic instead of eventually going insane.  
  
Willow picked up the book and held it to her chest. "But I. well.. umm.Thank you."  
  
William gave her a warm smile. "You're welcome. Do you have any other questions?"  
  
"Well, umm, will I also get all addicted to white magic?"  
  
William shook his head, "No, mainly because it's more difficult to do and it also required a clear mind. Using white magic uhh. doesn't impair your judgment. Look, if you need help with it, I can always help you. White magic is quite difficult."  
  
Willow quietly nodded, but before she could speak, the waiter came back with William's credit card and the group left for the opera house. ~~~  
  
Dawn practically glowed after watching the musical, she giggled as she walked down the stairs. At first, everyone thought that William was taking them to some boring opera where they'd have to sit through rounding renditions of some fat woman singing. Instead, it turned out that instead he had taken them to a musical called "Into the Woods", which was absolutely hilarious. It was like a chaotic mess up of every fairy tale she knew. She also noticed that Zander, Tommy and Wesley's faces lit up when they realized that it was going to be a humorous musical. Sure it was a little raunchy, but Tommy only understood the parts that he wanted to.  
  
Dawn began to walk backwards on the stairs, to face the others as she recapped on the funny parts of the musical. They would laugh and giggle as they nodded their head. Dawn sighed happily, it had been forever since they were able to relax. During this time, she wasn't watching where she stepped and she accidentally missed the last step down, resulting in landing on her behind.  
  
Dawn whimpered a little as she clutched her ankle. William was the first on by her side, "Are you all right?"  
  
Dawn shook her head, "I think I twisted my ankle."  
  
William easily picked Dawn up, "I guess I'll have to carry you home."  
  
Dawn blushed a little and thanked him.  
  
As they walked through the parking lot, heading to William's awaiting limo, a large group of about 40 vampires enclosed around them. 


	9. chapter 9

Chapter 9  
  
Note: laughs sheepishly. oops, I had accidentally cut off the second half of chapter 8 and I hadn't realized that until I read the review by soulwarrior. Sorrie. notice how there wasn't a 'cont.' at the bottom of chapter 8 like there usually is for every chapter that I have? _ really sorry! Yeah, so I'm making the 2nd half chapter 9.  
  
Oh yeah, one more thing, I donno if I mentioned this. I screwed up on Dawn's age. I meant to say that she was a sophmore in college, not high school. Geez, if she were still a sophomore in high school, she wouldn't have aged at all.  
  
~~~~~  
  
  
  
The vampires snarled and slashed out a few times as they William and the group to huddle closer together. Cordy turned to Wesley and whispered, "We have to get William, Tommy, Aoide and Dawn out of here fast."  
  
Wesley shook his head, "We don't have a chance. Even with Angel, we've never faced this many vamps."  
  
Cordy looked over to William, who was carrying Dawn, with a worried expression. "Geez, he doesn't even know what's going on. He's going to totally freak out."  
  
Lilah stepped out of the group of vampires. "Too bad Angel isn't here, but I can settle for killing some of his team, for now." Then she turned to the vampires. "Dinner is waiting."  
  
Some of the vampires laughed as others licked their lips. "I can't wait to taste that one." One of the vampires called out while pointing to Dawn. Dawn whimpered as she buried her face into William's light gray coat.  
  
Unnoticed by anyone, William and Aoide looked at each other. William mouthed, 'go ahead' to Aoide and she winked back and put up her arms in a fighting pose.  
  
One the vampires called out, "Hey, she's a feisty one, and her blood smells especially sweet." The others agreed and soon the latter of the group moved closer to William and Aoide.  
  
Suddenly, one impatient vampire leaped out at Aoide and instigated the chaotic fight. William quickly gave Dawn to Anya and told her to quickly get away with Dawn, Willow and her son. However, the dense group of vampires left no opening.  
  
Aoide deftly executed two vampires with a sickening snap of their neck. Xander, Cordy and Wesley were trying their best to fend off the vampires with kicks and punches, but to no avail. Cordy glanced over to Aoide and saw that she was fairing very well. She turned to Wesley. "We don't have to worry about William's friend."  
  
Wesley gave Cordy a confused look and glanced at where Aoide was, "Wow, she fights like a." Wesley didn't finish his sentence as his eyes widened. "Oh, she is!"  
  
Cordy nodded in agreement. "But I don't think an amateur can fight this many at once, we're really screwed."  
  
William resorted to kicking and punching, not wanting to give himself away unless necessary. Anya yelled out as she was slashed by one of the vampires' claws, in that second another vampire grabbed ahold of Dawn. Dawn let out a piercing scream as a hungry vampire grabbed onto her injured ankle. Willow ran over and tried hitting the vampires holding Dawn, but to no avail.  
  
William's resolution broke as he swiftly pulled out the sword hidden in his coat and killed the two vampires that had their hands on Dawn. "Leave Platelet alone!" William shouted, not realizing that a slight English accent had slipped out.  
  
Another scream came from Tommy as a vampire readied to bite the five-year old, William disappeared and reappeared behind the attacking vampire and decapitated it in one swift slice. William put down Tommy and whispered to him. "Do as Uncle William says, stay down on the ground. Understood?"  
  
Tommy nodded, too confused to question why William told him to stay down. William took Tommy and ran over to Anya, "Get Dawn and stay as low as you can to the ground!"  
  
Anya nodded and kneeled down, huddling with Dawn, Willow and Tommy.  
  
William killed another vampire as she rushed over to the others. "Aoide, Xander, Wesley, Cordy! DUCK!"  
  
The group's eyes widened, but they did as he said when they saw Aoide pushed Xander down to the ground.  
  
"What's going on?!" Xander cried out as he spat out the gravel that had found its way into his mouth.  
  
"Shut up and stay down unless you want to be mutilated!" Aoide hissed at him.  
  
William spun around and dusted a vampire mid-lunge. Once he was sure that everyone was on the ground, his eyes turned purple. An eerie glow began to form around his body and in that instant all the remaining vampires suddenly became dust, leaving a defenseless Lilah standing there.  
  
Lilah's voice trembled as she backed away, "Who? What are you?"  
  
William remained silent as he plunged his sword into Lilah's heart and gave a sharp twist. ~~~  
  
Angel paced as he looked at the clock, "They're 45 minutes late!"  
  
Gunn sighed as he threw his hands into the air. "Would you please stop pacing, you're making the situation worse. I mean, for all we know, they could be held up in traffic. You know highway 5 is still back up even during 10 at night."  
  
Lorne rushed into the hotel and Angel quickly ran to him, "Have you seen them? Are they okay?"  
  
Lorne shook his head, "I haven't seen them. Anyways I wasn't out looking for them. I've got some bad news about our 'friend' William."  
  
Buffy and Giles quickly stood up walked over to Lorne. Buffy's expression was worse than worry, "Bad news?"  
  
Lorne ran his hand through his hair, "Yeah, I was down at a demon bar and you would have never guessed who I saw there."  
  
Giles stuttered, "W-who?"  
  
"Lucifer."  
  
"Okay, what does Lucifer have to do with William."  
  
"Well, it turns out that William had just beaten the crap out of him not too long ago. Lucifer says that the only people he can think of who can beat him are high level hell gods."  
  
Buffy became tense, "You mean like Glory?"  
  
Lorne remembered Buffy tell him about how they had fought a female hell god and how she ended up dying for a second time. Later he had done some research on her, " No. not like Glory."  
  
Angel let out a sigh of relief.  
  
"It's worse. Glory was considered a low leveled hell god, almost like a minion hell god. I mean, high-leveled hell gods aren't just powerful, they're extremely intelligent and sadistic. For all we know, William might be messing with us right now."  
  
At that moment the bruised and injured group entered the hotel.  
  
~~~  
  
"You!" Buffy hissed as she ran at William, who was carrying Dawn.  
  
Angel followed not too far behind Buffy once he saw Cordy limp in with a huge gash on her head.  
  
Xander recognized Buffy's patented, 'You're dead' look and yelled out to her. "Wait! You don't want to attack him!"  
  
But it was too late, as Buffy's leg shot out at Willam's head, William's eyes turned purple once more. Dawn scream, "Please don't kill them!"  
  
Buffy and Angel cried out as they suddenly became suspended in the air, at least 10 feet from the ground. William silently walked over to a nearby chair and placed Dawn in it. "I'll take care of them."  
  
"You evil, hell, demon!" Buffy screamed at him, "Put me down and fight me like a man!"  
  
William dropped Buffy and Angel and slowly approached them. Dawn cried out as she got out of the chair and crawled over to William, "Please" she began to cry, "Don't hurt them, they didn't mean to attack you. I swear, just don't hurt them!"  
  
William's voice was steady as he looked down at Dawn, "Niblet." He softly said with a slight English accent and with a confused tone. "You're hurt. Please go sit back in the seat."  
  
"I'm fine!" Dawn yelled. "Just don't hurt them."  
  
William's eyes were still violet colored a little distant, like he was looking right through Dawn. He kneeled down and looked at her injured ankle. "Please Spike, don't hurt Buffy."  
  
'Spike if you love her, why did you hurt her like that?'  
  
William's eyes widened at the sudden memory and backed away. "No."  
  
"That's right. Get away from her!" Buffy yelled at William as she began to stand up  
  
'You're an evil, soulless, disgusting thing. I could never love you!'  
  
William stood up and clutched his head, yelling out, "NO!."  
  
Suddenly images flashed of Buffy giving him hateful glares, Dawn giving him disappointed looks, Xander insulting him and a million other images began to push at the frail gates, threatening to spill out.  
  
Anya put a hand on William's shoulder. "William, are you okay?"  
  
William recoiled from her touch. "Leave me alone!"  
  
He quickly began to back away from the group and towards the door, "Just leave me the hell alone!. And you two!" William pointed at Buffy and Angel. "If I ever see either of you again. Dawn won't be there to stop me from killing you. Stay the f**k out of my life! Aoide, we're leaving."  
  
William and Aoide promptly retreated, leaving the group stunned. ~~~  
  
After the injured party was taken care of, the group settled down in one of the larger hotel rooms.  
  
Angel sighed as he paced back and forth. "How did you guys get hurt?"  
  
Xander spoke up, "Gee Deadboy, I thought you'd never ask. We were attacked by about 40 vampires led by a pissed off Lilah."  
  
Giles sputtered, 'H-how on earth did you all fight them? I mean, even in the past, we have never battled that many at a time."  
  
Wesley spoke up, "Well, first of all. The girl who was with William was the next slayer."  
  
Buffy threw her hand up, "Great, another evil slayer!"  
  
Dawn yelled at Buffy, "Why do you think that William is evil!"  
  
Lorne replied, "I overheard from Lucifer that William was a hell god."  
  
Dawn waved her hand, "Hello! It's Lucifer! Why would you trust Lucifer? I mean wouldn't it have crossed your mind that he was lying to you?"  
  
"But he wasn't directly speaking to me! He was telling someone else!"  
  
"Well, he could be trying to attack William! And he knew you were there and he must have thought that if you thought that William was evil, then you'd help him kill William!"  
  
"Woah, slow down kiddo. You're confusing me." Xander said as he rubbed his head.  
  
Lorne shoved his hands into his pockets. "Actually, that may be a possibility."  
  
Buffy yelled out, "But he threatened to kill us!"  
  
Anya put her hand on her hips, "No, not us. Just you and Angel."  
  
"He's going to kill me! And probably corrupt another slayer!"  
  
"Geez sis, paranoid much?"  
  
Willow finally spoke out, "Actually, Aoide is pretty nice, she's not all wild and rebellious, she's actually pretty calm too. She's not arrogant either like Kendra was. I mean, she's sort of like you Buffy, without the hot tempered part."  
  
"Are you saying that I have a bad temper!"  
  
"Well.right now."  
  
"Willow!"  
  
Willow whimpered and shrunk back, "Okay, shutting up now."  
  
Angel yelled out, "Hold it! You haven't told us how you managed to escape from Lilah and the vampires. I know that Aoide is a slayer, but one slayer can't kill that many vampires at once."  
  
Cordy rolled her eyes, "Well, if you had let us finish talking you would have known that Aoide didn't kill the vampires."  
  
Fred looked stunned, "Wow, you guys did?"  
  
"No we didn't even have weapons. William killed them."  
  
Angel furrowed his brow. "Okay I am assuming that between Aoide and all of you, at most you killed about 10 vampires without weapons. How could William have killed the rest."  
  
Wesley coughed, "He had a sword, but that's not how he killed them."  
  
Buffy was at the end of her patience. "Would you all stop being so vague and just tell us how the hell he kill them?!"  
  
"Buff, he just killed them with a thought." Xander quietly replied.  
  
"You mean he blinked and they suddenly went poof?" Buffy sarcastically replied, not wanting to believe what Xander said.  
  
Dawn shook her head, "No, actually his eyes turned purple, like when he made you and Angel levitate."  
  
The group grew silent. After a while Gunn finally said out loud what the group was thinking, "We're in deep sh*t."  
  
~~~  
  
William wheezed as he quickly undid his tie and took off his dress shirt. He rushed into the bathroom and splashed water on his face, 'I don't remember anything, I don't remember anything, I don't remember anything.' he chanted in his head. He squeezed his eyes closed and clung onto the sink as a wave of dizziness and sickness wracked his body. He let out a few dry sobs, 'These feelings, I can't be feeling this. No, go away, go away. I beg you go away.' There was a light knock on William's door. "Are you okay William?" Aoide asked from the other side.  
  
William quickly wiped his face dry on the nearby towel, cleared his throat and yelled back, "Yeah I'm fine. Just tired, you know. those vampires."  
  
Aoide stared at the door, she knew that William was lying. On the way back home, he was hitting 120 mph and he had this horrible haunted look on his face.  
  
She sighed and went back into her room, there was no point in try to force him out of his room. It wasn't like he would say anything once she got him out.  
  
William waited silently, leaning against the wall near the door to his room. When he finally heard Aoide leave, he let out a sigh. She didn't need to get involved in this. No one did. It wasn't like she could help in the final battle. The side he was taking was based off of Spike's knowledge of the world. Sure there were a lot nice things that humans created and indulged in, but it seems that humans were inherently unaccepting, cruel and unforgiving. Perhaps that's why he had subconsciously wanted to talk to Lucifer.  
  
Suddenly another wave of past memories rushed him. William groaned and rubbed the bridge of his nose, he hastily strode into the bathroom and opened the medicine cabinet with trembling hands. He hurriedly popped the cap off and filled a glass cup with water. He took shallow breaths, trying to will away the oncoming memories. In his haste he swallowed about 7 sleeping pills and drown them down with several cups of water.  
  
William clung to the walls as he stumbled to bed. Yes, sleep would make it go away. It was so painful, it felt like something was eating away his insides. For the first time in many years he felt fear seep into him. And soon sleep overcame him like dark waters drowning him in his past.  
  
Cont. 


	10. chapter 10

Chapter 10  
  
Note: this chapter will be really weird and not make too much sense since I'm using the 'stream of thought' writing style. Oh, and for those who have seen 'Princess Mononoke', you'll understand the visuals better when I'm describing the brown spots and the worms surrounding Spike's body." Oi! I think this part may be rated R for some of the imagery, so I'm changing my uh. rating to R, because of the 'dark' parts. I mean I do censor the really bad swear words.  
  
I'm going to do a series of short chapters, prolly 3 or 4. Each one will describe the dreams that Spike is having. These chapters will explain what happened in that interval of time that Spike was gone. Most of these things did happen to him, only the parts that are too weird didn't happen.  
  
~~~~~~~  
  
William moaned as he tossed and turned in his bed, the nightmares silently bombarded him as the past trickled back slowly, like a tap that wasn't closed all the way.  
  
"Buffy I know I can't make up for anything that I did, especially for trying to rape you. But I want to try to make your life easier, somehow try to make as much as I can for what I did to you."  
  
Spike stood there with his hands in his pocket, it was nighttime on his side, but Buffy was standing in the sunlight. Her hair shined like golden glitter scattered across the ground.  
  
"You can't make up for what you did." Her voice was dead. "I don't ever want to see you again."  
  
  
  
  
  
"I promise I won't hurt you. I got a soul..."  
  
  
  
  
  
She turned away. "Leave me alone, it is over. It was over. It's not really over because it never happened in the first place. We were never together."  
  
  
  
  
  
"But what we did." Spike pleaded.  
  
  
  
  
  
"It was lust, not love." Buffy said, but it was like he could read her thoughts. 'I was just using you to make the hurt go away. And the hurt has gone away because I gave it to you. Now you'll hurt for eternity."  
  
  
  
  
  
"No, I was using you, to fulfill my dream of you falling in love with me. I was addicted to the fantasy and we both got hurt. I can't give you back your pain?. I can't give you back your pain." Spike muttered himself.  
  
"Hey dead boy." Buffy disappeared and Spike turned around to face Xander.  
  
"You evil, disgusting thing. How could you do that with Anya? She was my fiancé."  
  
"We were all hurting. I wasn't thinking straight."  
  
"You're still evil and dead. It doesn't matter whether you have a soul or not, I'll never forgive. You probably have a rotten soul anyways." Xander pointed at where Spike's heart was.  
  
Spike looked down and saw a hole where his heart should be, the flesh was rotting away and there were worming crawling out.  
  
Spike whimpered as he backed away from Xander. "No, stop."  
  
"How could you do that to Buffy?" Spike immediately recognized Dawn's voice.  
  
"Lil' bit. I'm sorry."  
  
"How could you leave." Dawn began to sob as she backed away from him.  
  
"I'm back now. I promise I won't ever leave again. I was bastard before, trying to hurt your sister and your friends. But I've changed. I'm a good man. I'm just asking you to see me."  
  
Dawn looked up with blazing, hate-filled eyes. "You're beneath us."  
  
"Nibblet you don't mean that."  
  
"You're not welcome here anymore. Don't ever come back" Dawn slowly morphed into Buffy.  
  
"I ask for penance!"  
  
" No matter what you do or what you are. You are forever trapped in this limbo where you'll never belong."  
  
"You're not apart of my family anymore." Drusilla said as she stepped out of the shadows, she gave him a kiss on the cheek and then began to shriek, "You taste like the slayer! You taste like ashes! Ashes ashes we all fall down.You're sick my Spike."  
  
Spike looked down and realized that the brown spots and stripes had grown all over his body. His arm, where the worms had touched began to throb with excruciating pain. Everyone else disappeared and he was back on that hill again where he killed that monster. Leng was rushing over with a jug of cold water she quickly poured the water over the area that the worms had touched. They had left these brown stripes on his left wrist.  
  
"You've been infected. Come stay with us. I'll try to treat your illness."  
  
"Can I be cured?"  
  
Leng looked in his eyes and saw the deep pain that he couldn't hide or stifle. "No, most likely not. It's evening, why don't you stay for the night and get some rest. It's least we can do for saving our village."  
  
"I travel better at night."  
  
"I know. You can travel another night. For now, we have to try to cure you."  
  
"I bring sorrow, chaos and sadness wherever I go. It's best that I don't stay with you."  
  
"You don't have a choice."  
  
Spike closed his eyes and sighed, feeling very weary, then he woke up and found himself in a old bed made out of large branches that were tied together. He was sleeping one some sort of straw mattress and covered with a cotton comforter.  
  
The windows were covered with heavy blankets.  
  
Spike blinked again and found himself standing outside of the village. 'I can't stay, I'll only hurt more people. I always have to move, if I keep moving no one will be hurt. I won't be hurt. I give anyone enough time to reject me. He looked down at heart-shaped glass cradled in his hands, it was cracked in many spots, if any it received any more damage, it would surely shatter. His left hand throbbed even more painfully, he pulled up the sleeve of his jacket and saw that the brown spots and stripes now covered his whole arm.  
  
He turned around and quietly strode away, he quietly hitched a ride from one of the local farmers and headed to a nearby city. He fell asleep during the ride and when he woked up once again he was in a room. There were candles, shattered glass and blood everywhere in the hotel room, he looked at the corner and he saw himself with a jagged piece of glass in his hand, there numerous cuts everywhere.  
  
He gasped in shock and backed away until the back of his legs touched the bed, he hissed in pain as a basin of holy water tipped over and spilled over the back of his right leg, but it felt like it spilt all over him. The blinding pain shocked him for a second. He continued to stare at his doggelapper in the corner, soon he noticed that his doggelapper's reflection slowly began to appear in the shattered mirror pieces. Spike rubbed his eyes and suddenly he wasn't in the hotel room anymore.  
  
He was laying on a table, like a makeshift surgical table. "Where am I?"  
  
Leng came into view, she had three needles in her hand. One of the needles was connected to a pump. "You shall no longer be of one kind, but of three."  
  
She connected the first needle to him and began to pump his borrowed blood out of him.  
  
Spike looked up in pain, "Why?"  
  
"This is my role, this is my destiny. To change you, to reshape you."  
  
"Why?"  
  
"Because 'he' needs you. The disease is getting worse. He can help you quarantine it."  
  
"Who is he?"  
  
But before Leng could answer Spike passed out from the loss of blood. She then stuck in two more needles, one on each arm. There was blood coming from two jars, one said 'Human' and the other said 'Immortal'.  
  
Spike woke up, "It hurts."  
  
"It's eating you alive" Leng replied.  
  
"What is ?"  
  
Leng pointed at his chest. The brown spots and stripes now covered his upper torso, his left arm and his right arm.  
  
"It's feeding on your pain."  
  
"What's happening to me?"  
  
"You have too much pain. It feeds on you pain until it has destroyed your souls. Then."  
  
"Then what?"  
  
"Then you become that monster that you first killed when you came here."  
  
"Make it go away."  
  
"I can't make it go away completely. There are consequences."  
  
"Like what?"  
  
"Forgetting."  
  
"Forgetting?"  
  
"Forgetting everything, who you were, what you are. Forgetting what caused your pain."  
  
"I'm willing. More than willing. I'll beg you to make me forget everything."  
  
"You hurt more than anyone I've ever know."  
  
"You probably don't know that many people yet." Spike said as he smirked.  
  
"I'm older than you. I was there since the beginning."  
  
Spike gave her a confused look.  
  
"Tell me your story and I will judge whether you should forget."  
  
Spike opened his mouth and found that before he could say a thing, Leng nodded, "I see."  
  
"You see?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
"How, I didn't say anything."  
  
"You think you didn't say anything, but you did. 3 hours have passed already. Do you really want to forget?"  
  
Spike paused for a second, but he replied in renewed confidence. "Yes."  
  
"Very well. Drink."  
  
As Spike brought the potion to his mouth, the world around him grew brighter as the light blinded him and everything turned pure white.  
  
He found himself sitting on the grass outside in the sun, watching the trees wave and the clouds float by. It was so eerily peaceful, he could have almost heard the sound of harps playing a ghostly melody.  
  
Suddenly the sky turned red and the peaceful scenery disintegrated. The creature covered with worms came at him and the worms soon sounded his body. The agony burned his soul, the creature fueled his hate, and the creature devoured him alive.  
  
"You'll never escape me!" It screeched into his ears until he bled. Then he started to vomit blood and the worms seeped into his pores and crawled under his skin. Then a shrill scream of pain wracked his being.  
  
~~~~  
  
William woke up with a blood-curdling scream. He shook furiously, unable to stop, his sweat poured from his body, soaking his clothes and the sheets. He quickly rushed into his bathroom and got into the shower. He blasted the cold water on and sat there, curled up in the corner sobbing as the cold, needle-like spray rained down on him.  
  
~~~ 


	11. chapter 11

Chapter 11  
  
Note: really short chapter. I mean really really really short chapter (sorrie kiddes, don't worry the next chapter will be up in 1 or 2 days)  
  
~~~  
  
Late in the morning Aoide kicked William's door for the twentieth time with all the slayer strength she possessed. It was blocked off totally with an extremely strong power.  
  
"WILLIAM!" she screamed, "Are you all right?! Let me in!"  
  
There was no reply.  
  
Aoide thumped her head on the door, "God, just let me in. Something's wrong, I know that you're hurting in some way.. Let me help?"  
  
But all she heard was silence  
  
~~~~~  
  
William had closed off the entire area into his room; he knew that Aoide surely would have heard him scream. But he couldn't let her in. She couldn't know. He was pacing now, his thoughts running a mile a minute.  
  
'Where is Leng when you need her?!' he muttered darkly to himself. Then he remembered that his cell phone was still in his jacket pocket.  
  
She had left a message for him.  
  
"I'm sorry William, just hold in there for a few more days. This potion takes at least 3 days to complete. Once it's done, I'll catch the next flight over. Bye."  
  
'Not soon enough. no, no, I need it now. I need it so bad. It hurts. It hurts so much.'  
  
He made a desperate strangled sound as he clenched his fingers in his brownish blond hair. His face was twisted in anguish as his memories came together and became more crystal clear.  
  
~~~~  
  
"Giles! We have to find a way to exorcise that hell god from Spike's body! Who knows what he's going to do next!"  
  
"Y-yes B-buffy. I know. I-I've narrowed it down to around t-t-three spells. O-our problem is how are we ever going to lure him back h-here."  
  
"I don't know!"  
  
"Whatever it is we have to do it fast, he's managed to destroy all of Wolfram and Harte easily and he's killed a slayer and the newest slayer is on his side." Angel pointed out.  
  
"Gee Deadboy, can we be more obvious?" Xander retorted.  
  
Buffy glared at Angel and Xander. "Look! Lets just think of a plan!"  
  
Cordelia look over at Dawn. "Wait a minute! Remember how worried he was over Dawn? We can tell him that she's even more hurt! He'll be rushing over here before we even finish the message."  
  
Giles nodded, "Y-yes! That's a terrific idea. And I know which spell we have to use. However, the exorcising spell will take about 72 hours to prepare at the shortest. So we'll call him when it's done."  
  
Anya raised her hand. "Wait a minute, you guys are forgetting something. He needs to be held down so that the exorcism can work. How do we tie down a very strong hell god?"  
  
Lucifer appeared in the middle of the room. "Maybe I can be of some assistance."  
  
~~~~  
  
Spike was standing in front of Buffy's house in the middle of the night. It wasn't one of his prophetic dreams this time. It was memory.  
  
"Buffy?" Spike implored as she opened the door.  
  
"You." She whispered.  
  
"I. I wanted to say what a pillock I am for doing all those horrid things to you."  
  
She remained silent and she stared at him with dark, despising eyes. Spike gulped and continued.  
  
"I know I can never make up for what I did to you. But I want to try to do what I can."  
  
"To what Evil undead? You going to try your best to rape her again?" Xander said as he appeared behind Buffy.  
  
Spike's eyes widened in horror, "NO! I won't!"  
  
"Oh yeah and what makes you so different this time huh Spike?"  
  
"I have a soul now, I know what I did wrong. Not that I didn't already know what I did wrong before. Please?." Spike looked at Buffy. She currently wouldn't even look at him.  
  
"Scram Deadboy Jr."  
  
"Shut up Harris!" Spike yelled, he was getting frustrated. He hadn't anticipated Xander to be there.  
  
"No you shut up Spike!" Buffy yelled as she finally raised he head. "Did you really think that you could come back and beg for forgiveness after what you did?! Not to mention that you weren't even there when you were needed to the most!"  
  
"I'm sorry. I heard about Tara and Willow and what happened. I wish I could have been here to help."  
  
"You're pathetic." Buffy cut him off.  
  
Spike's undead heart was squeezing painfully now. "I know. I just.*sigh*"  
  
"No. you're not welcome back here anymore Spike. Leave. I don't care if you have a soul. What you did was unforgivable."  
  
Spike's infamous temper flared, "After what Angel did you still forgave him! I didn't kill anyone! I didn't torment you or your Scoobies! I gave you everything you wanted!!! I even got this bleeding soul that has been making my undead life a living hell!"  
  
Buffy covered her ears, he refused to hear him. She knew that he was right, but subconsciously she was disgusted with herself for lowering to his level. And now she wanted to push him away more than anything else.  
  
"Buffy, just hear me out."  
  
"You heard her Spike, she wants nothing to do with you." Xander pitched in.  
  
Spike looked down at his feet with a heavy heart. "Is he right Buffy? Do you want me to leave?"  
  
Buffy's mind was jumble now, she was recalling the bathroom scene again and before she knew it, she was nodding her head furiously. " Yes. yes. just get out!"  
  
Spike choked on a sob, "Are you sure?" He was at the end of his line, he need her so badly, she had become his reason for existence and now for the second time of his life, he could feel himself dying.  
  
"Get out!" Buffy screamed, she swiftly stepped back and closed the door in his face.  
  
Spike numbly walked back to his motorcycle and drove as long as he could out of Sunnydale. He rented a shabby hotel room next to the San Francisco Airport and bought a ticket for a flight to England. Tears never really came, it was different this time. It wasn't like the time Buffy died or Joyce died or every time Buffy rejected him. He just couldn't cry, there was this horrid swelling in his chest that burned and consumed his entire being. He took labored unneeded breaths to try to calm himself, but that didn't' work. He tried chain smoking, doing a few drugs and killing a few demons that night. Nothing worked. When he got back to the hotel room he couldn't sleep, he just stared at the wall as he felt his mind detach from his body. And the pain just grew and grew and grew.  
  
~~~  
  
The dream jumped again. Leng was looking at his arm now. There were some brown stripes and spots on his wrist. He blinked his eyes a few times.the spots were growing along his arm.  
  
"Why is it doing that?" Spike asked, slightly panicked.  
  
"It's feeding on your pain." Leng whispered.  
  
"What happens if it's done feeding."  
  
"You will become the monster that you killed earlier.this 'thing' isn't a demon, it's a manifestation of hatred, fear, pain, loathing. everything dark within us. It will destroy you. It will destroy your soul, your humanity. Everything. You will be consumed alive."  
  
Spike digested this information. "Then kill me. Before I become this monster, before I hurt anyone else."  
  
"I can't."  
  
"WHY NOT?!"  
  
"Once it's found it's vessel, it will keep it from dying until it has possessed it fully."  
  
"Then I should leave."  
  
"No, it'll be worse if you leave. I'll try to help in anyway I can. I'll try to put it off."  
  
"Put it off?"  
  
"It doesn't matter, it'll destroy you in the end no matter what. You already have so much pain. This thing will heighten your suffering. You will begin to hallucinate and imagine things that aren't really there. It will warp your mind and twist everything to it will."  
  
Spike shrank into the bed he was on, "No. please no, I can't take anymore. It can't be worse. It'll drive me insane."  
  
Leng whispered, "I'm sorry."  
  
~~~ Spike looked at Leng's village in the night one last time and ran off. He hitched at ride into a local city and rented a hotel room. While he was out eating some dinner (Which happened to be very easy to attain since the Chinese had an eclectic of tastes.*), he managed to buy a bag full of candles, a knife, and a gun.  
  
Then he retreated to this small dark hotel room he rented.  
  
In the morning, the walls, the bed sheets, and the floor were covered with shattered glass, melted candles and Spike's blood. ~~~  
  
Spike took the bottle of 'forgetting potion' to his lips and drank it like a man deprived of water for days. He made sure not to miss a single drop. Then his eyes widened as things began to blur and faded to a white light.  
  
When he awoke Leng, look him outside in the daylight and began to fabricate the story of his new life.  
  
~~~  
  
William opened his eyes again. It was morning again. ' I got through another night. I can do it. I can hang in there. Just two more days.'  
  
Cont.  
  
  
  
Note: I really don't like pig's blood. But duck's blood (cooked!) tastes alright. I usually dump all this sauce all over it though. It tastes pretty bland.. to me. I always wondered why Spike didn't stay in or go back to China after he killed the first slayer . I mean Chinese nightlife is great. No one sleeps till 1 in the morning, there are like a gazillion food shops and trinket stands that are out. So, at night there are gazillions of walking happy meals out and about at ungodly hours of the night. Not to mention, a lot of Chinese people like to eat curdled animal blood (I'm not kidding!), so it's really easy to access. 


	12. chapter 12

Note: yes, we all know that I like to ramble about nonsensical things. For example, did they steal the name Sunnydale from Sunnyvale? I happen to live only a few miles away from Sunnyvale. eh. kinda boring around here though.  
  
Mutters unhappily, "it's not faiiirrr. I saw two 'Johnny the Homicidal Maniac' books at Legends 1 week ago and now they're both gone! . and I'm also too lazy to ask them to order it. maybe I should though. I've been pining for that comic for months already.. Heh, at least I have Squee! Squee is an awesome comic. I esp. love that segment with the disgustingly cute puppy being run over multiple times oh oh!. and the one with aliens kidnapping Squee's parents. and when Squee's grandpa tries to eat him. Lol.it's so hilariously sick. I bet Spike would enjoy reading that comic.  
  
~~~  
  
After pacing and muttering to himself for the last few hours, William's body succumbed to sleep once more. During this time, his defenses fell and Aoide finally was able to open the door to his room.  
  
"William?" She whispered as the door swung open with a soft whine. She gasped as she saw him sprawled out on the bed unconscious.  
  
"William!" She cried out more urgently as she went to his side and shook his shoulders.  
  
There was no answer.  
  
Then she checked his vital signs. He was still breathing and his circulation was still going. She tried to wake him again but to no avail.  
  
Aoide panicked for a few moments. and finally ran to his desk drawer and pulled out a private phone book that he kept. He used to mention Leng a lot while he helped her train, he always talked about how good of a fighting teacher she was and how skilled she was at making potions and ancient remedies.  
  
Aoide scrambled out of William's room, went into the kitchen to get the cordless phone and looked up Leng's cell phone number.  
  
~~~~  
  
He watched himself in the mirror; there were two people where there should have been one. He saw himself, his old self and then he also saw a very tall figure dressed in a dark blue robe. The figure was extremely tall, very muscular, his face was hardened with sharp edges and dark violet eyes, and his most prominent feature was that he had enormous silver wings that grew from his back.  
  
"Who are you?" Spike queried.  
  
"I am everything, I am you, I am..." The figure spoke.  
  
"A little more concise please?" Spike asked as he crossed his arms.  
  
"I am Michael. You should have known who I am already. I've been in your body for years already." He retorted.  
  
Spike furrowed his brow, "I think I know who you are. I can sense you... or something. I was aware of your presence for a while."  
  
"No, you always knew on the inside, but you're suppressing the memory at the moment. Both of you know."  
  
"Both?"  
  
At that moment Spike looked into the mirror and he split into two being again. There stood a demon with blue skin and black hair, he looked like a gangster with tattoos. He looked tired with the rings under his eyes, emaciated from lack of nutrition and he was covered in cuts and bruises. Next to him was a little human boy, about 9 years old, who was curled up on the ground. He clutched his chest as he wheezed softly, trying to take in as much breath as he could. The little blue-eyed shivered or coughed every once in a while, he looked as if he was in the last fatal stages of Scarlet Fever.  
  
When the Spike split into the two beings he realized that this was his demon soul and his human soul. Both weakened tremendously and one of them dying. The demon soul immediately knelt down and scooped up this human soul into his arms and rocked him slowly. The little boy clung onto for dear life as he whimpered a little at being jarred when the demon soul picked him up.  
  
Michael walked over. "He's dying Nemiphoren."  
  
The demon soul nodded sadly and spoke with a very thick Northern British street accent, "I know. I just wish I could help him."  
  
" You're dying too, but not as fast as he his."  
  
"I already know that. We can't keep fighting that thing. Even if you have been protecting us, it can eat away at us through different ways. It's just slowly burning the both of us out."  
  
"Nemi." The little boy whispered.  
  
"Hey Will, hang in there okay?" The demon soul said as he tried to put on a smile for the boy's benefit.  
  
"I'm tired." Will said as she rubbed his eyes  
  
"Yeah, same here."  
  
"You don't have to keep protecting me, you'll probably live longer if you leave me." Will said softly and then he began to shiver again.  
  
Nemiphoren frowned and wrapped the boy in his trench coat. "Don't be daft kiddo. I wouldn't leave you here. I'd be pretty boring without you, yah know."  
  
He tried to lighten the mood, but the situation was still pretty bad.  
  
"Thank you Nemi." William whispered as he burrowed himself into the warm coat.  
  
"Hey, go to sleep 'lright? I'm gonna talk to Mr. Archangel over here."  
  
"Will Buffy love me someday?" Will whispered with a little hope in his eyes.  
  
"Yeah!" Nemi said a little too enthusiastically. "Yah know, we've been gone so long. She'll be ecstatic and she'll jump into our arms and she'll love us like crazy. And we can take her to all these nice place since we've got money now and well can help Niblet."  
  
Will smiled as he slowly fell asleep, listening to Nemi's great plans.  
  
After Nemi was sure that Will had fallen asleep, he stopped spinning his lies. He bit his lip as he quietly sobbed. He had kept Spike's encounter with the Scoobies away from Will this entire time, Will wouldn't have been able to stand the hateful way that Buffy looked at him. Will was remembering again after all these years, sure in the past few years there had been a few close calls. But now, his human soul almost remembered everything up until the day Buffy came back from the dead.. Nemi was afraid that the broken and weak human soul wouldn't be able to last long if he knew everything in the end. 'Please don't die.' Then he turned around and went to talk with Michael. ~~~  
  
"Lucifer!" Lorne growled hateful.  
  
Lucifer rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah, I know no one likes me, I'm evil yada yada yada. But that's not the point. I'm here because I want one of my hell gods back."  
  
Buffy crossed her arms, "Why do you want him? And what are you going to do once you get him back?"  
  
"One, I need him back to help me fight in the final battle, or else the playing field won't be even, especially considering how powerful he is. And two, I'm just going to take my hell god and leave."  
  
"I don't think so, it sounds to me like another apocalypse." Buffy said in a bored voice.  
  
Lucifer sneered, "Stupid humans, have no idea what the hell is going on.Look, you want your friend back, I want my demon back. If we don't do this, neither of us get what we want!"  
  
"Fine." Buffy said curtly , "Just stay out of our way. We can handle the situation."  
  
Lucifer rolled his eyes, "The situation needs to be dealt with as soon as possible. I can make the potions work in one tenth the amount of time than their suppose to."  
  
Giles raised an eyebrow, "How is that possible?"  
  
"Just one of the perks about being an Archangel, and even though I've 'fallen', yes I am still considered one. I can speed up time for anyplace, anything, anyone."  
  
Giles handed over the ready potions, "Alright then, do your stuff."  
  
Lucifer look the cups from Giles and placed it on a table nearby. The green liquids glowed orange for a few moments and then returned to normal. "It should be ready within two hours, I suggest you call him around 9:50."  
  
~~~  
  
Leng paused while she opened the door to her lab, she was on her way to check on the potion, when she heard her cell phone ring. She picked up  
  
"Hello, Leng speaking."  
  
"E-excuse me. Ms. Leng?"  
  
"Yes? Who is this, how did you get my private number?"  
  
"M-my name is Aoide. W-w-William is in trouble. I can't wake him up. He's still alive, but he's unconscious. I don't know what to do!"  
  
Leng bit her lower lip. "Shoot." she muttered. "How long has he been out?"  
  
"I don't know. He somehow was able to lock me out of his room for the last two days."  
  
"I'm on my way over there right now." Leng said as she packed the potion into a special case. "I'm going to try to catch the next flight out of here. This is serious. Just, don't move him! Try to get him to stay awake until I get there, the next time he wakes up."  
  
"Alright. What do I do now?"  
  
"Just stay calm and stay by his side."  
  
"Thank you, thank you. bye."  
  
"Watch him, good bye."  
  
~~~ Michael crossed his arms as he leaned against the wall, his silver wings folded very neatly behind him.  
  
Nemi's hands were stuffed his pocket. "He's getting worse. Can't you do anything?"  
  
Michael shook his head. "This beast within his mindscape isn't demonic. It's more man-made, it's the accumulation of human hate, fear, sorrow, agony, revenge. all that negative emotion. I don't know how or who started it, I was somewhat aware of it before when I was watching from heaven. I would stop it if I could, but I don't know how to get rid of it and every method I've tried doesn't work."  
  
Nemi clenched his fist. "Well try harder!"  
  
"Calm down!"  
  
"Calm down?! Will is dying!"  
  
"Since when did demon souls care about the human souls."  
  
"." Nemi frowned and looked away.  
  
Michael gave him an intrigued look. "You've very interesting, for a demon soul. I never pried before when I entered your body, but my curiosity is getting the better of me. You're so protective of the human soul in this body that you inhabit; which is immensely odd. I thought that once a person becomes a vampire, the demon soul either pushes out the human soul completely or they torture and subdue it."  
  
Nemi's eyes grew distant as he recalled the past. "When I entered William's body. I wanted to throw out the human soul. But he wasn't a threat at all, he was hiding from me half the time. So in the end, we just kind of left each other alone. I started to get used to him being there, but I was still in control of Spike's body. About the same time Spike got the chip in his head. I made a truce with Will, if I started to help Buffy and the Slayerettes, then he would use his intelligence to feed me and keep me alive. We started to become. friends.I started to learn about William's life before I came along and I sympathized for him and he helped me get over Dru when she left.  
  
I think the both of us fell in love with Buffy. He loves the Buffy side of her and I loved the Slayer side. We both had a mutual understanding and strove to somehow court her. We tried everything, from being sweet and giving her candy to shagging her. nothing worked.And then when we went to get our 'soul', which meant making Will the guy in control; he never kicked me out like most human souls would have, and he just split our job of being in control. But I'm digressing. Look, Will and I have been mates for so long, he's kept me out of trouble and I've protected him all the nasties. I don't think I can lose him. he's become a apart of me."  
  
Michael looked at the demon soul with studying eyes and nodded. "I'll keep trying. But I can't guarantee anything. Why don't you go back and check on Will."  
  
Nemi nodded and walked back to the little boy bundled in the black trench coat.  
  
~~~ Leng whispered with a triumphant "yes!" to herself as the lady at the check- in counter informed her that there were extra seats to the one-way flight to Los Angeles. Sure, she had to pay more, but money was no comparison to the severity of the emergency.  
  
She called Aoide again, after she got her ticket, to tell her to pick her up at the airport  
  
She crossed her fingers and hoped that she would get there in time.  
  
~~~  
  
William woke up again, but with more understanding this time. This time he knew that the demon soul was in charge, since Michael had gone off to find more ways to fend off the creature that was draining them. It was evening already. He looked at the clock, which read 9: 42 pm. Then he noticed that his room's door was open. '.must have dropped my defenses."  
  
William quietly walked out of his room, "Aoide?" he called out.  
  
There was no reply.  
  
Then he noticed a note tacked to the exit door.  
  
William-  
  
If you wake up while I'm gone, I'm sorry I wasn't there. I'm out getting dinner for your gramps and you. I'll be back soon. How does some of Wilson's chicken soup sound? I know it's your favorite. Be back soon.  
  
Aoide  
  
P.S. don't do anything stupid.  
  
William smirked at the last comment. Aoide was a great slayer, she was unconventional, just like Buffy was, however, Aoide was never trained by a Watcher. He had learned that the first week Aoide stayed with him. He could tell that she wasn't Chinese despite her black hair and brown eyes, her sharp defined face was definitely Mediterranean. She had told him that she was Greek with some Arabian blood, hence her darker tones. When she was 7, her family was approached by Watchers who were trying to take her away to train; in response, they fled. They had ended up in South Korea for about 4 years, it the perfect hiding place because there were no addresses there at all. But word of mouth somehow led the Watchers to their doorstep once more. Then they had fled to Hong Kong and stayed there for 5 years. And finally she had just left not too long ago to flee to California. Even though she wasn't trained by watchers, she was a very good fighter. Her parents had looked for all sorts of dojos to teach her as they fled from the Watchers. And Aoide also had a special power that all the descendants in their family had.  
  
~ (Flashback)  
  
William easily blocked one of Aoide's high kicks and he used her momentum to flip her over. He could tell that Aoide was getting frustrated, she had never been taught to counter his style of fighting. He had picked up this very difficult style from Leng. Basically, every one of his moves absorbed his opponent's attacks and used their own momentum against them.  
  
Eventually William pinned Aoide to the wall.  
  
"Give up. You can't beat me." He said as he gave her a victorious smile.  
  
Aoide scowled at him and opened her mouth. He expected her to throw angry insults at him and his arrogance. Instead, she started to sing.  
  
The rhythm of her song and the resonating effect of her voice caused his mind to fuzz and within seconds he crumpled onto the floor and fell into a deep sleep.  
  
(End flashback) ~  
  
William smiled at the memory. When he had woken up, he was totally disoriented and confused, but after that he never worried about Aoide again. He had found out later that everyone in her family could do that and that particular song she sang could make any creature, dead or alive, fall asleep for at least 5 hours. She also had other songs that made people feel sad, happy, confused, in love, etc. Indeed she was unconventional.  
  
Suddenly the William heard the phone ring and he hurried over to pick it up.  
  
It was Cordy and she sounded panicked.  
  
"Cordy what's wrong?"  
  
"Oh my god, oh my god. Dawn's hurt really badly, she was trying to go downstairs to get something to eat and she fell down the stairs because of her twisted ankle. She's unconscious right now! Please help her!"  
  
Without thinking twice William responded, forgetting the hostile message he had told the Scoobies two days before, "I'll be over as soon as I can! Don't move her and call the hospital."  
  
"Please hurry!" Cordy cried out and finally disconnected the line.  
  
William put down the phone, got his jacked and rushed out of his penthouse unaware of the ambush that awaited him.  
  
Cont. 


	13. chapter 13

Chapter 13  
  
Woah. this is going to be a pretty long chapter. Okay, on second thought, I'm not changing it to be rated 'R', why? Because I don't have any really crude sexual thing in this story, it might seem a little gory. I mean, if they had a PG-15, this would definitely fit right in. But it doesn't. Besides, which kid who is 13 hasn't heard of people committing suicide? And I've seen some action movies with some pretty gruesome fighting scenes that were only PG-13. beside, I think it's relative. You can't really decide how mature a 13 year old is. As, for me? I'm 18 and I'll never be mature. It ain't going to happen. I'll still be watching stupid cartoons when I'm 60. Go me!  
  
Darn it! I realized that everything I have italicized in my Word document doesn't show up italicized on fanfiction.net . sigh. okay, I guess I'll have to find another way to show different passages. Here:  
  
Passages that happen in Spike's mind: *** blah blah bleh ***  
  
REALLY DARK STORY! IF YOU'RE DEPRESSED AT THE MOMENT WAIT UNTIL LATER TO READ.  
  
~~~  
  
William dashed into the hotel and the first thing he saw was Dawn lying at the bottom of the stairs with Cordy leaning over her. Cordy looked panicked as she kept lightly shaking Dawn and calling out her name.  
  
Cordy's looked immensely worried as she said Dawn's name, "Dawn? Dawnie, are you okay? Wake up please!"  
  
William hurried over to where Cordy was, "Cordy! Here, I'll take over and see what I can do."  
  
Cordy stood up from her spot and allowed William to crouch down next to Dawn. He bent over to check Dawns pulse, relieved that it was beating sturdily. Unknown to him Cordy pulled a syringe out of her pocket and uncapped it. As William leaned down to check Dawn's breathing, he felt a sharp prick in his shoulder and something being injected into him. William gasped as his vision began to blur. He splayed his hands out on both sides of him to keep himself up.  
  
To his surprise Dawn suddenly opened her eyes and began to back away from him.  
  
"Dawn?" He asked in a slightly betrayed tone. Then he turned around to face Cordy, who was still holding the syringe.  
  
"Why?" He asked and then collapsed as the world blacked out.  
  
~~~  
  
Buffy, Angel and the others came out of their hiding places. Buffy did a few tests to make sure William was unconscious, then she nodded to the others indicating that it was okay to move him into the room that they had prepared.  
  
After they finally set his body in the middle of the floor in one of the rooms, Lucifer reappeared and watched them work. Dawn placed large red candles around William's prone figure; Anya used some magical blue dust and made a circle around him. Then Giles sat to the right of William and got ready to do the ceremony. During this time, Xander had gone out to drop Tommy off at Wesley's friend's house.  
  
Buffy turned to Lucifer, "Okay, we purge this hell god out of Spike's body and you take it and leave."  
  
Lucifer nodded, "Yeah, yeah. Just get on with it."  
  
Xander returned soon enough, just as Giles took some feathers out of a leather bag and placed them around the bowl in front of him, then he sprinkled some ashes into the bowl and he muttered a few Latin words.  
  
Suddenly, William's eyes snapped open. Fred screamed and jumped into Gunn's arms. Giles back up a little in fear.  
  
"H-he can't do that, that sleeping potion was suppose to last for at least 24 hours. We just injected it into him 15 minutes ago." Giles told the group.  
  
William's eyes were completely violet this time instead of a slight bluish- violet color tint that the others had seen before. He looked over at Giles with a wild look and spoke.  
  
"You can't do this, you'll kill him."  
  
Buffy yelled back, "You're the one that's killing him!"  
  
"No, I'm the only thing keeping him safe. You'll destroy him, you don't understand!"  
  
Angel glared at William, "We can't trust a YOU. Hurry Giles, finish the spell!"  
  
"Wait! You can't handle him, what he's become! He's insane! He won't be able to handle it. You broke him! Don't do this! I beg you, don't do this! IT will kill him!"  
  
Willow worriedly looked over at Buffy, "What do we do? What if we'll really hurt Spike?"  
  
Buffy whispered back to Willow, "Anything is better than being possessed by a hell god." And then out loud she told Giles to finish the spell.  
  
Giles poured some orange looking liquid into the bowl and then lit a match to set it on fire. Then he chanted some more Latin words and finished it with "I exorcise thee!" The smoke that came from the fire entered William's body and pulled out Michael's spirit.  
  
Michael panicked as he was pulled out of William's body and could sense William's defenses immediately falling.  
  
Lucifer was grinning happily at the unidentifiable white mass floating out of William, until it suddenly took form.  
  
Lucifer's mouth dropped in surprise, "Michael?!"  
  
Michael growled and held a dagger at Lucifer's throat. "I'm going to have a talk with YOU, you better have a good explanation for why you drew me out of William's body. Now, I can't enter his body until you find a spell that can undo the exorcism!"  
  
Lucifer began to stutter, "I-I-I didn't know it was you! I thought it was one of my hell gods! I-I-I swear!"  
  
Michael's eyes narrowed and then his hand lashed out at clamped down on Lucifer's ear, "Let's go have a talk."  
  
"OW! Oooowwwww! Geez! Let go! That's hurts!" Lucifer yelped.  
  
"You're going to hurt you even more when I'm through with you." Michael hissed at Lucifer as he magically turned his dagger into a sword.  
  
Lucifer whimpered as he and Michael disappeared into thin air.  
  
~~~~  
  
The group gaped at the sight of Michael dragging Lucifer out the door by his ear until Xander cried out. Then they turned to Xander and looked down at where Xander was pointing. Wesley looked utterly confused, "Huh? Wait. didn't Lucifer say that the spirit was a hell god?"  
  
"I think he messed up." Lorne said to no one in particular.  
  
While the group looked onward, Xander glanced down at William and cried out. Then they turned to Xander and looked down at where Xander was pointing. William's eyes were closed, but his face winced like he was in horrible pain. Once Michael had left Spike's body, hundreds of scars and bruises appeared where they hadn't been before. There was a deep, X-shaped scar on his right cheek, the scattered scars on his face looked like he had plunged his face into a bucket of glass shrapnel. There were knife cuts all over his legs, torso and arms, but the most noticeable cuts were the multiple vertical ones on both wrists.  
  
Buffy covered her mouth in horror, she knew that vertical cuts on the wrists weren't cuts to get attention, they were ones to make sure that the person committing suicide would be successful. Everyone else looked just as shocked and horrified as Buffy did. Dawn and Angel knelt down to examine Spike closer. Dawn lifted his wrist and looked at the strange spot and striped tattoos that weren't there before.  
  
Angel shook Spike's shoulder, "Come on Spike, wakeup. Spike, Spike."  
  
~~~  
  
***Nemi winced as the entire mindscape shook like an earthquake and parts of the sky began to fall around them. He held Will even closer to him, Will whimpered, "What's happening? Why is this happening again?! Where's Michael?"  
  
Nemi shook his head and cussed out the damn Archangel, "I think he left kiddo."  
  
Will suddenly looked haunted, "No.. no, please no, not again. Don't let it get me Nemi. Oh god no."  
  
Nemi stood up and began to run with Will in his arms, "Come on, we've got to get somewhere safe first."  
  
Will shook his head, "No, we're never safe, it's everywhere. No matter where we run, it'll find us. It wants me Nemi."  
  
"Shut up kid. I'm not letting you go without a fight. So don't even suggest something so stupid."  
  
Will buried his head into Nemi's neck and whispered, "It's here." ***  
  
~~~  
  
Aoide gave a frustrated sigh as she entered the house when she realized that it was still silent. She put the food she bought on the counter and quietly set the dishes. Then she tiptoed over to William's room and lightly knocked on his door.  
  
"William?" She asked. "Are you awake yet?"  
  
Then she noticed the empty bed and the covers pushed away. She blinked a few times. 'Okay.he's up.'  
  
"William!" She called out a few times and went off to search for him, but to no avail.  
  
She began to pace around the living room, worried. "Koko!" she cried out as she thought of her cat that was sleeping in her room.  
  
She ran into her room to get her cat and quickly shook him awake. "Hey you! Where's William?"  
  
The cat mumbled groggily, "Huh? William?"  
  
"Yeah! You were home the whole time, where did he go?!"  
  
The cat shrugged, " I was asleep the whole time."  
  
The scowled and tossed her lazy cat on the bed. " You're. you. why weren't you awake?! You're nocturnal!"  
  
The cat pouted, "Sorrie."  
  
Aoide sighed and put her head in her hands.  
  
"Wait." Koko mumbled to himself, " I think I remember the phone ringing. I thought it was apart of my dreams, but now that I think of it, I think it was real."  
  
"Okay." Aoide dragged out slowly, "Someone called William and he left. Maybe, it was just some company business. yeah, well, maybe he's all tied up right now."  
  
~~~  
  
***Will and Nemi screamed and cried out as these dark bluish-green worms came from underneath them and began to pull them into the ground. Nemi quickly leaped up, tried to stomp on the worms, and dashed off from the area as fast as he could with Will in his arms. However the worms were intelligent and created a wall that circled around them. Nemi skillfully kicked and destroyed any of the elongated worms that tried to grab hold of Will. But even as skillful as he was, he couldn't stop the creature from closing in. Eventually it covered the top, which kept Nemi from jumping out. Nemi ducked down and curled into a ball, trying to keep Will safely hidden in the confines of his jacket.  
  
Then the worms caved in and wrapped itself around Will and Nemi. Nemiphoren howled in pain as they wrapped themselves around his neck, face, arms and legs. The slimy coating on the worms burned worse than holy water and the worms began to work themselves into and under his skin. Nemiphoren bit down another scream and drew blood from his lip. As hard as Nemiphoren tried, his efforts were futile. Eventually they pried Will from his grasp.  
  
Will screamed as the worms dragged him away from the demon soul. He desperately tried to reach out, but the worms would start to cover his arms and he'd draw back in pain. The worm's residue burned into his delicate innocent skin, leaving brownish spots and tattoo all over his body. Will tried to squirm away, but was always pulled back. Ultimately, he stopped trying to walk over to Nemiphoren and he started to try to get the creatures off of him. Their poison quickly weakened his sick body and started to crawl under his skin.  
  
Will screamed and howled as he tried to pull them out. He sobbed at the physical and mental pain these creatures started to corrupt him with. ***  
  
~~~ Outside, in the real world  
  
Spike screamed as he suddenly woke up and began to back away from Angel. He started to back away from the group and backed himself into a corner.  
  
"Nooo." He gave a tortured whimper. Then he clutched his head, trying to shake whatever was in his mind.  
  
Then he lashed out and shoved Buffy backwards as she tried to walked towards him. "Get away. get away, burns. It burns!"  
  
He started to scratched at the scabs and scars on his arms and legs, he frantically tore off the lower portion of his pants and scraped his legs until they were raw. "They're all over me!" He cried out with fevered, frantic eyes. "They're in me! Get them out! It hurts. it hurts. it hurts."  
  
Spike ranted and raved. Then he clutched his hair and screamed as he writhed on the ground. Then he stopped and looked at his arm, the brownish spots and striped tattoos seemed to move in front of his insane eyes. "It's here." He said to himself as he started at his wrist. "It started here. I can stop it, I can stop it, it'll stop if I get rid of where it started. right, and it'll all go away." Spike tried to convince himself.  
  
Then he took his left wrist and bit down as hard as he could. He whimpered at the pain, but he tried to bite harder. Buffy screamed in horror at what he was doing. "Spike! Stop it, you're hurting yourself." Dawn whimpered and back away and hugged Giles as hard as she could.  
  
Angel finally took hold of the situation and pulled Spike's wrist out of his mouth. He suddenly felt sick when he saw that a portion of Spike's wrist was gone and that Spike was bleeding profusely all over the ground. Spike began to choke and spit out the piece of his own flesh that he had bitten off.  
  
At the gruesome site, Fred hurried to the bathroom and threw up.  
  
Then Spike began to stare at the wound with utter fascination, which suddenly changed to angry disappointment, "It's still there!" He yelled out. Then Spike took his right hand and began to pull at the bleeding muscle and skin around the wound. "It's still there. Got to get rid of it. rid of it. rid of it."  
  
Angel swore under his breath as he saw his grandchilde began to begin to worsen the wound. He quickly grabbed Spike's right wrist and pulled it away. It was now covered with Spike's warm blood. The demon within Angel screamed with pleasure, urging Angel to drink away Spike's blood.  
  
Spike began to laugh madly as he watched Angel's inner turmoil. Suddenly he took his left wrist and smeared his blood all over Angel's mouth. "It smells sooo good doesn't it Angel? You want it. I want it. Kill me, please kill me. It hurts so much. You know you want it. So take it! Take it dammit!"  
  
Spike was now shrieking at Angel, desperate to get his grandsire to stop the pain. It was burning him from the inside out, it ate away at his very being at the moment. This 'thing' sadistically tore away at his mindscape leaving him hollow. Angel viciously roared and shoved Spike away and quickly retreated to the bathroom to wipe away Spike's blood at his mouth. Thankfully, Lorne wasn't as stunned as the others and he quickly grabbed the first aid kit. He ordered Wesley and Giles to hold Spike down as he wrapped his wrists with gauze. During this whole time, Spike was really out of it. He looked around at the people surrounding him in a detached way. He swayed his head a little, like he was listened to some strange music in his head.  
  
Then Buffy walked over and sat in front of him. "Spike" She said in a calm and soft tone. "Calm down, I'm not here to hurt you."  
  
Spike looked straight into Buffy's eyes and straight into her soul. This caused her to blink a few times, trying to ward off his affects on her. She took a deep breath and resumed talking to him.  
  
"Spike, you can trust me." He gave her a slightly confused look as he tilted his head a little. Then he there was a glimmer of hope behind his eyes and he smiled.  
  
Buffy smiled back. "Yeah, that's it." She took her right hand and put it on his non-scarred cheek. He closed his eyes and smiled like he was in utter bliss, then he slowly opened his eyes again. He looked down and his hands cupped together, holding some imaginary object and he motioned for Buffy to also cup her hands. He delicately placed the imaginary object in her hands and smiled at her with immense happiness.  
  
*** Will imagined was looking at Buffy again. She was being so kind to him and she told him to trust her, so he did. He looked down into his cupped hands and saw the glass heart with a few cracks in it and held it up to Buffy. She smiled at him and took his glass heart into her hands.***  
  
Buffy looked down at her cupped hands, not sure what he had given her or what it mean to him symbolically. She look up at him and gave him a confused look; only to realize that his eyes were distant again.  
  
*** Unknown to Will, at that moment, the creature in his body twisted the world around him. Will looked at Buffy again, she was smiling at his glass heart. It wasn't a kind smile, it was dark and malicious. He suddenly wanted to take his glass heart back. But, before he could, she complete crushed it in her hands.***  
  
Spike gave a tortured scream as he as he looked at Buffy with betrayal in his eyes. He quickly scooped up whatever imaginary thing he had given her and took it back. Then he looked at his cupped and watched it slip through his fingers.  
  
*** Will sobbed as the tiny glass shards that used to be his heart fell through his fingers and one by one fell to the floor.***  
  
Spike was crying painfully now, his tears came pouring down his face and fell on the cold tile floor underneath him.  
  
Buffy looked at Spike with much confusion. "What happened?"  
  
Spike sobbed and backed away from her. "No..please noo.how could you? I trusted you."  
  
He returned to his spot in the corner and sat in the pool of blood he had left earlier. He made a soft whimpering sound as he rocked back and forth.  
  
~~~  
  
Lorne worried his bottom lip as he studied Spike's behavior. 'he's absolutely insane. *sigh* we should have listen to Michael."  
  
Then Lorne got an idea. He touched Buffy's shoulder, "I'm going to try to get him to sing something, and maybe I can read him."  
  
Buffy nodded and allowed him to walk over to Spike.  
  
"Spike?" Lorne said as he watched the rocking figure. Finally after a few long seconds, Spike's tear streaked face looked at Lorne.  
  
Lorne sighed again and proceeded. "Spike, I want you sing something for me. I believe it can help tell us what's wrong. We can help you. Trust me."  
  
Spike looked away and started at the wall with much interest and then he started to laugh.  
  
Lorne raised and eyebrow, "Are you okay?"  
  
Spike's laugh became higher pitched and finally he let out a blood-curdling scream. Lorne stumbled back while covering his ears, everyone else had done the same. Angel and Fred rushed out of the bathroom to see what happened. Dawn hugged Willow and whimpered.  
  
Then Spike ceased his screaming and resumed his insane laughter. Soon, from his laughing came a few choked sobs. Every time someone approached him he would back away and start laughing again or he would try to bite and claw at them. But it got worse, soon, he started to take the objects closest him and throw them at the group. They hadn't expect him to throw the vase at anyone, but now, poor Gunn was unconscious and bleeding from the cut on his head.  
  
Finally Giles couldn't take it anymore as he ducked one of the flying projectiles. "Cordy! Do you still have some of that sleeping potion?!"  
  
"Yes!" Cordy yelled back.  
  
"Hurry and inject him with some!"  
  
Cordy filled another syringe with the sleeping potion and ducked a few of the flying objects, but Spike's dazed state hadn't allow him to realize what she was doing until he felt her stab the needle into his arm. Within seconds, the potion took effect and Spike was completely unconscious.  
  
~~~  
  
The group eventually walked out of the room, but kept the door open to keep an eye on Spike. Willow was the first to speak. "We need to find a way into his mind, so we can try to fix whatever is making him c-crazy."  
  
Gile looked away guiltily, "I shouldn't have ever done that exorcism spell."  
  
Anya patted Gile's back, "you would have never known that this would have happened."  
  
Buffy cut in, "You guys, focus, we don't know when he'll wake up, so we have to move as fast as we can."  
  
Wesley raised his hand.  
  
"Yes?" Buffy inquired.  
  
"I-I have a spell, it's in one of the books I keep, it allows people to enter a person's mind and see what's wrong with him. It was an old way that medicine men used to cure some of the mentally ill."  
  
Willow clapped her hands together, "That's perfect. Lets get the ingredients! Come on, Hurry!"  
  
The group nodded as they followed Wesley into his library.  
  
The only people who didn't go were Buffy and Dawn.  
  
Buffy quietly returned to the room that Spike was in and watched his sleeping figure on the cold ground. Dawn also came in behind Buffy and stood there looking at him. Finally, both snapped out of their trance and Buffy took the comforter from the bed and covered him with it. She sat on the ground near him with her back leaning on the side of the bed.  
  
Dawn took a seat in a chair that was behind Buffy.  
  
(flashback)  
  
Buffy sniffled as she told Xander and Willow about her and Spike's 'unhealthy' relationship. It was about three hours go since she saw Spike at her doorstep. She had finally broken down and told her friend the real reason why Spike had gotten aggressive with her in the bathroom. She could feel a weight lifted off her shoulders as she told her friends how he made he feel alive and how she kept using him and making him think that she loved him back. Eventually, her sudden break-up with him made him unstable, which led to bathroom incident.  
  
Eventually the conversation wound down to Willow asking her, "Are you in love with him? Do you hate him?"  
  
Buffy shook her head. "I don't know. I don't hate him, it was partially my fault. I kept telling myself that I didn't love him. but after he left, god, it was so lonely. It still is. I don't know why. I can't love him."  
  
Xander sighed and nodded. Buffy looked at him in surprise, " I thought you were totally against Spike."  
  
Xander shook his head, "I have no idea anymore. I hate him for what he tried to do to you. But a part of me understands. And I've always had an inkling for the fact that you two were involved, I just didn't want to see it."  
  
Willow gave him a strange look. "Wait, this is Spike you're talking about, you know, the guy that had sex with your ex-fiance. always made fun of you."  
  
Xander shook his head. "Wills, you know that video we saw? I turns out that you accidentally hit the record button. I went back and. I found out they didn't do anything.They stopped, both of them. I mean, how else do you explain how they were all dressed and stuff when we got there? We only saw them starting to . make out when we left the house. It took us about 10 minutes to get to the Magic Box at the speed we were going. Knowing Anya from experience, she can't orgasm that fast, no matter how drunk or horny. you do the math."  
  
"But why didn't they tell us?!" Buffy exclaimed.  
  
"Seeing how mad we were, would we have believed them?"  
  
Buffy looked down, suddenly feeling somewhat ashamed.  
  
Willow smiled tentatively at Xander, "Geez Xan? How'd you get so smart?"  
  
"When I realized that the only way for Anya and I to work out, I had to grow up." He said and then gave Willow a small tired smile.  
  
Buffy stood up and put on her jacket.  
  
"Where are you going Buffy?" Willow asked.  
  
"To apologize." Buffy whispered. Willow and Xander nodded and she quickly left the house.  
  
Buffy was walking before, but the excitement in her caused her to run as fast as she could towards Spike's crypt. She quickly flung the door open and called out to Spike. But all she found was poor old Clem, who almost got a heart-attack.  
  
"Clem? Where's Spike?" Buffy asked, confused.  
  
"Isn't he in Africa?"  
  
"You mean he's not here?!"  
  
Clem shook his head. If he'd back in town, I haven't seen him yet."  
  
Buffy sighed and nodded. "Sorry about that. If he come back.can you tell him to see me? I need to talk to him."  
  
Clem nodded. "Alright Slayer. I'll be sure to do that."  
  
Buffy searched around Sunnydale for the rest of the night, but she never found Spike. For three weeks, she had searched every inch of Sunnydale, but there was no sign of him. No one had seen him except for her and Xander. Spike had left again. and probably permanently this time.  
  
After that, she would fall asleep while clutching his leather duster that she never returned to him. The smell of him and his smokes were fading away after a year. Then she had put it in a box, in hopes to retain that smell. But eventually, she gave in to temptation and she would take out the duster again and fall asleep with it.  
  
~~~  
  
Buffy hadn't realized that she started to cry until Dawn placed a tissue box next to her. Then Buffy looked at Dawn, her eyes asking her younger sister to leave her for a second. Dawn nodded and left the room, knowing that Buffy needed to deal with this. Buffy ran her finger along Spike's X- shaped scar and then the smaller scars on his face.  
  
She began to cry even harder as she did this, "Oh god," she whispered. "What have I done to him.?"  
  
Cont. 


	14. chapter 14

Chapter 14  
  
Note: another long chapter. urg.. ummm. This part is a little gruesome. You'll see what I mean. If you think that the rating should be changed to an R, please tell me privately and I'll do it. I don't feel like dealing with the fanfiction.net moderators and having my story plucked out on and deal with all that mess. And besides, if you do report me to the moderators. I just wont finish the story. period. After all, this is the only place I am posting it at. Or, I will finish the story but I will only send the remaining chapters to a select few. Sorrie if I sound mean, but I've been snubbed several times by fanfiction moderators and I am totally sick of it.  
  
***Nemiphoren growled viciously as he tore himself from the worm's hold, as he got away he grabbed the few remaining ones and stomped on them. He quickly rushed to Will's side as the small dirty-blond haired boy was consumed by another mass of worms. Nemiphoren tore them away frantically and he dug his hands into the pile, trying to pull the weak boy out. These creatures had a stronger hold on Will. As Nemiphoren busily tried to free Will, he didn't notice that the worms began to merge together to become a black shadow of a being. It has wicked neon green eyes, its entire body has no consistent form, and it moved like lighting. (Think of Ink (is that how you spell her name?) from Batman Beyond.)  
  
The Creature grabbed the back of Nemiphoren's neck, pulled him up and punched him in the face until he was barely conscious. Then it dropped Nemiphoren on the ground like a limp doll and slinked over to Will. Will whimpered, "No. please, no again. I can't!. please!"  
  
The Creature smiled sinisterly, making no noise as it laughed at Will's futile begging. Then it walked behind the boy and wrapped its hands around him. One the Creatures arms wrapped around his waist and the other held him from the left shoulder and then it began to whisper painful things into Will's ear. Will began to hyperventilate as the words sank in and the creature began to assimilate into his body.  
  
At this time Nemiphoren started to come around once more, but it was too late. By the time he got over to Will, the Creature had disappeared into Will's body. Nemiphoren let out a small whine as he hysterically picked Will up and shook him. "Come on, don't let him beat you again. Not again. No., you'll die. You're stronger than that! You can force him out! . please?. oh god. if only you could believe in yourself. It could never take advantage of you!  
  
(flashback)  
  
"Hey man! Watch it!" Will said as he shoved Nemiphoren's foot away from his head. Nemiphoren growled at the middle-aged man who was the human soul that currently his roommate. Will laughed, "Aw come on, no one likes to have someone's foot on their head."  
  
Nemiphoren smiled, "At least some one's a little happy now."  
  
Will frowned and returned to his depressed state. Nemi rolled his eyes and gave a deep sigh. "Now, don't do that again."  
  
"You brought it up."  
  
Nemi got off the couch and sat on the floor next to Will. "It still hurts that much?"  
  
Will blinked back a few tears, "Yeah, still feel worse than when Cecily rejected me or when Dru left us."  
  
The demon soul looked sad at the mention of Dru's name. He really loved Dru, Will loved her too, but not as much as he did. Will always helped him with all the romantic stuff that kept Dru by his side for centuries. And then there was Buffy, Will loved her first and slowly he managed to also make him fall in love with her too. It was ridiculous, demons didn't love Slayers. And yet he still loved her. The thing was, he was always more practical and levelheaded than Will was. Will was devastated when Buffy told him to that she could never love him, till now, he was still depressed over her. He himself hadn't gotten over Buffy, but he didn't really show it. But Will knew that he hurt too, he just never said anything.  
  
Will moped quietly as Nemiphoren rubbed his back in circles, even though Will was a grown man, he was till as innocent as a child. Never really tainted, no matter what Nemiphoren did. Other souls were usually self- righteous and all that rot, but Will usually let him be. They really had no quarrels, Will's personality was just really pacifying.  
  
-- Spike had been wandering around for a bit, he had just arrived in a small village, almost in the middle of nowhere in China. And then he encountered the Creature. ---  
  
Will looked around worried, "Something isn't right. The atmosphere feels strange."  
  
Nemiphoren nodded in agreement, "I'm getting really trippy vibes 'ere."  
  
Will yelped as he saw the creature approach them. "What the heck is that?!"  
  
Nemiphoren grabbed Will's arm and backed themselves away slowly. " I have no idea what that is and I don't think I want to find out."  
  
Will nodded nervously and gulped. In that instance the Creature disappeared in a flash and tossed Nemiphoren to the side as it attacked Will. Will stood there, frozen in fear. The Creature gave a soundless laughed and then pounced on Will. There was a small struggle, but eventually Will's spirit gave out and the Creature assimilated into his body. Nemiphoren screamed, "Nooooo!!" as he rushed over to Will.  
  
"Will?!" Nemiphoren asked as he shook Will's limp body. "Will. wake up man, this ain't funny."  
  
Then Nemiphoren turned Will's head and saw that Will's pupils and iris had disappeared, only leaving white.  
  
--- The Creature had totally taken over Will, driving him insane with dreams that turned to heart wrenching nightmares and whispers about how worthless he was. Nemi had seen all this happen every time he touched Will's body, but he could never wake Will up from his coma-like state.  
  
It wasn't until almost five months later when Michael had entered Will's body, had they finally exorcised the Creature from Will's spirit body and kept it at bay. But the effects were devastating. Will's mind was completely fried for months after the experience. He could never sleep well due to his fear that his dreams would become nightmares. He didn't trust himself to do anything right and he would always sit in some quiet corner muttering derogatory mantras until Nemi found him and shook him out of it. But the worst of all that the creature had done to Will was that it had managed to regress Will's body and mental state to that of a sickly and dying nine-year-old boy.  
  
(flashback end)  
  
Nemi hadn't even realized he had started cry until he noticed the wet drops splash onto Will's face. 'This can't happen again, it'll kill him. It'll kill the both of us.' Nemi drew Will's lifeless body into his arms and held him tightly, almost as if he was protecting Will from some sort of danger. But it was already too late.  
  
~~~ Michael flung Lucifer up against the wall once they had disappeared to a random, deserted area. "What the hell did you think you were doing?!"  
  
Lucifer angrily shoved Michael back. "I didn't know okay? So just back off."  
  
"My host is going to die and you're telling me to forgive and forget?! You stupid piece of- "  
  
Lucifer held his hand up to stop Michael. "I didn't say that I wanted your forgiveness. I was just saying that I didn't know it was you."  
  
"Bull!"  
  
"I didn't dammit! Once I 'fell', I haven't been able to sense the other Archangels, including you. And you usually don't interfere directly in mortal lives, so you can see why I would assume that you were a hell god."  
  
Michael narrowed his eyes, but let the matter drop. Lucifer usually didn't lie to him.  
  
"Okay then, I also have another issue to bring up. Why did you want to keep me from finding a host? And yes I know why you sent me on those missions."  
  
"Well, why did you follow them?!"  
  
"Because I needed to talk to you."  
  
"Couldn't you have done it sooner?!"  
  
"My host wouldn't have understood, most mortals don't."  
  
"So you had to wait until your host wasn't watching over your shoulder or when you left the body. Now, what did you want to discuss?"  
  
" The final battle, it's not even anymore."  
  
Lucifer rolled his eyes, "Duh. With you on their side, of course I can't win."  
  
Michael sighed as he looked up, "No, if I were to stay away from the battle, you'd still lose significantly."  
  
"What are you saying?"  
  
"Metatron just got a power boost from God, he's been secretly tapping into his power."  
  
Lucifer froze, "You're kidding. How strong is he?"  
  
"About the both of us combined."  
  
"Geez! What has been happening since I 'fell'?"  
  
"Metatron has become corrupt, he's using his status of 'God's voice' to have angels carry out his own selfish ends."  
  
"Well, won't God punish him?"  
  
"Not if he's/she's trillions of light-years away creating other civilizations or dimensions."  
  
"Sh*t.I'm so screwed."  
  
"No, actually not just you."  
  
"What?"  
  
Michael gave another sigh as he sat on top of a wooden crate nearby. "Metatron never understood why God said that 'there has to be a balance'. He figures if he destroys all the monsters and beings in hell, he'll have an easy job. It doesn't work that way. There are three possible outcomes from the final battle. One, you win, world becomes a chaotic demon home."  
  
"Well, I never said I wanted to win."  
  
"I know. Two, it comes down to a stalemate. Everything goes back to the way it was. Everyone is fine. Life goes on. This is the outcome I'm striving for."  
  
Lucifer nodded, "same."  
  
"And then Three, Metatron wins. Have you ever read "The Time Machine" by H.G. Wells?"  
  
Lucifer nodded. "Yes."  
  
"Remember how in the future all the humans lived an ephemeral life, they lost their intelligence, they knew of the monsters and ran away like cowards instead of fighting back. Humans became easy pickings because they were stupid and naïve. Every time one human died they would be forgotten within an hour and no one will ever admit that it happened. That's what's going to happen. Demons are terrestrial creatures, they will always still be around, but humans won't have the knowledge or the intelligence to fight back."  
  
Lucifer's mouth slowly opened as he realized what Michael meant. "It's like Adam and Eve never ate from the tree of knowledge."  
  
"Exactly."  
  
"We can't let him win." Lucifer said in a determined voice.  
  
Michael nodded. "I know, that's why I'm helping you this time."  
  
~~~  
  
Dawn returned to the room that Buffy and Spike were in once Willow told her that the spell was ready. Buffy quickly removed the blanket that she had placed on Spike's body and quickly let the others into the room. Buffy, the Scoobies, Angel and his team sat in a circle around Spike's body, each of them held a handful of maroon dust. Anya and Giles slowly chanted as they waved two candles over Spike's body on opposite sides. Then they placed some quartzes and crystals on Spike's face and in his hands. As Anya finished the chant everyone blew the dust in their hand toward Spike. Then they sat back and quickly each of them fell into a deep slumber  
  
~~~  
  
Buffy and the group slowly woke up, only to find themselves in Buffy's home. She walked around and examined the objects suspiciously, then she tried to pick up a plate but found out that her hand passed right through it. The others looked at her and nodded, knowing that they were just spectators.  
  
Suddenly they saw another older Buffy walk into the house and groan as she took off her uncomfortable high heels, put her purse on the counter and collapse on the couch. Buffy walked over to her and yelled out a few times, but the older Buffy didn't' notice her or the others. As Buffy stood there looking at her counterpart the door rattled as someone put in the key and opened the door. It was Spike, out in the sunlight! And not only that he was wearing a casual suit and holding two giggling children in his arms. The girl managed to wiggle from Spike's grasp and then ran over to her younger brother and she tapped his nose. "Tag!" she exclaimed, "You're it!"  
  
Then she ran up stairs in a hurry. Spike let go of his son and let him chase his sister up the stairs. The group gave Spike a strange look, but they didn't' say anything. Spike quietly sauntered over to the older Buffy, sat down on the couch and snuggled with her.  
  
"How was work today?" He asked as he placed a soft kiss on her lips, pulled her onto his lap and played with her back hairs on her neck.  
  
"Tiring, I really don't like working with teenagers. Too hormonal."  
  
Spike chortled softly at her comment.  
  
"What?"  
  
He kissed her again, "It's not good to be a hypocrite, luv."  
  
She playfully smacked him and he untangled himself from her embrace. She gave him a confused look.  
  
He gave her an Eskimo kiss, "I'm going to go out and get us some pasta for dinner from Pernice's" ( Italian restaurant, I didn't want to name it something cheesy like Luigi's or Mario's or the Mario brother's.shudders.)  
  
She smiled and hugged him, "You're a lifesaver."  
  
"And you are a delicious chocolate mousse cake."  
  
She smacked him for his ridiculous pun and he laughed as he went out again.  
  
In that instant, the group was transported to the restaurant where Spike was getting his order. While he waited he ran into the local bakery and got a chocolate mousse cake and some flowers from the flower shop.  
  
And then the scene returned to the house once more as Spike walked home with a delighted smile, unable to wait for how his wife reacted to his little treat for her. He flung open the door calling out, "Honey I'm home!"  
  
He paused for a bit, waiting for a reply, which he didn't get. He slowly closed the door behind him and started up the steps. Suddenly the strong smell of blood filled his nose. Whatever Spike was carrying was dropped on the floor in that instant as he rushed up the stairs. "Ricky? Lizzy?" He called out to his children. He held his breath as he opened the door to his kid's room.  
  
Spike's eyes widened in horror as he felt bile rise up to his throat and he quickly rushed towards the bathroom.  
  
Both Ricky and Lizzy where hung to death by a rope tied to their ceiling fan.  
  
During that time Fred and the others walked up the stairs, wondering why Spike had rushed up. Then they saw Spike dash out of his children's room and toward the bathroom. Everyone gave each other a weird look. Since Fred was in front, so she was the first to open the door. She screamed as she backed away and ran towards Gunn. The others shuddered or whimpered as they turned away. Buffy was shaking, terrified that 'her children' were killed in such a way. Giles hurried over to Buffy and held her tightly.  
  
"Don't worry, it's not real. It's not real.. It's not real. It's just a nightmare."  
  
Then Buffy remembered Spike and ran towards the bathroom. As she set foot in the bathroom, she noticed that the ground was covered in pinkish looking water. Spike had forgotten about his urge to vomit and he was staring at the bath, which was still overflowing with the pinkish water. The curtains were drawn around the bathtub, so you could only see the bottom portion.  
  
Spike's breaths were loud and erratic as he slowly approached the bathtub. With shaky hands, he slowly drew back the curtain. The bath was filled with dark red blood and his wife with her throat cut open. Spike screamed as he kneeled by the bathtub staring at his wife, her eyes were still open and looking sideways at the wall. He let out a heart wrenching sob as his tears spilled over, nervously he reached over and closed his wife's eyes and then collapsed on the wet ground.  
  
Buffy stood there frozen at the doorway. Seeing herself dead like that was ghastly and she started to cry as she saw Spike collapse onto the ground. Then she heard a sinister voice whispering around the room.  
  
"It's all your fault." It whispered. "Your fault. it's all your fault Spike. You killed her."  
  
Spike shook his head, "No, I was away. go away!"  
  
"You killed her, you killed your children. You're a monster." The eerie voice continued.  
  
Spike looked around in fear and began to back towards the wall and away from the bathtub. " I didn't kill them!"  
  
"Yes you did. Yes you did. yes you did." The voice echoed and bounced around the bathroom walls.  
  
"Shut up! Go away!" Spike screamed as he clutched his head  
  
"It's all your fault. see."  
  
Buffy suddenly noticed that a knife and blood covered Spikes hands, which wasn't there a second before.  
  
Spike looked down at his hands. "No.. no .. I didn't!"  
  
"Yes you did. yes you did. You killed them. You killed them. You're a monster, you don't deserve to live." The voice continued.  
  
Spike dropped the knife and tried to wash his hands at the sink. But instead of water coming out, fresh warm blood came out of the nozzle.  
  
"You're a killer, you're a killer. You kill those that you love. You killed your family. That's right."  
  
Spike began to sob once more and he dashed out of the bathroom and tried to run downstairs. But the voice kept following him. He slipped on one of the steps and tumbled down the stairs, twisting one of his legs. Then the voice came again. Stronger this time.  
  
"You can't run. You can't hide. You killed them. You're always being watched. You're a killer, you need to die."  
  
The group had jumped back when they saw Spike dash out of the bathroom and fall into a heap down the stairs. Buffy soon followed as she closed the bathroom door.  
  
She gave the others a serious look and said, "Whatever you do, don't go in there."  
  
They gave her a small nod as they watched her run down the stairs and sit down next to Spike. She knew that he couldn't see her or the others, but maybe she could find some sort of way to help. As Spike rocked back and forth repeating in a mantra that he didn't do it, Buffy noticed that he was getting smaller. No, he was becoming younger. Soon, she was watching a 9- year-old Spike crying and shaking where the older Spike had been. Buffy gasped.  
  
Suddenly, the house disappeared and Buffy and the group found themselves out in the middle of a dark, dead forest with dead black trees everywhere and a black sky. Soon, monsters started to come out of the darkness and the younger Spike got up and started to run for his life.  
  
~~~  
  
Nemiphoren frowned. In the past he was able to enter Will's dreamscape while the Creature possessed Will. So, why couldn't he now?  
  
Nemi concentrated harder as he held Will's wrist and then he felt his mind float away from his body.  
  
'There we go.'  
  
~~~ Leng anxiously tapped her fingernails on her pull out table on the airplane. Something was wrong with William now. She could sense it, in fact, it was practically screaming at her. Nimbly she got out of her seat and surreptitiously walked towards the restrooms on the plane. She closed the door, but made sure not to lock it and disappeared.  
  
In the next instance she reappeared in William's penthouse. Leng walked into William's room, not finding him there. When she turned around, she found herself face to face with Aoide. And faster than Aoide could breath Leng gripped her throat and pinned her to wall.  
  
"Who are you and where is William?!"  
  
~~~ Cont.  
  
R&R pweeeaaase? 


	15. chapter 15

Chapter 15  
  
Note: Okay, to answer one of the questions. Who is Meteron? You see.. I made a mistake _ it's suppose to be Metatron, not Meteron. Metatron was the first Archangel ever created. As theory has it, Metatron may have created Lucifer. And I also heard from another theory that before Lucifer fell, he was Lucifael. I'm just trying to incorporate what I think may have happened. (P.S. don't be offended by the religious subtext, because truth be told. I'm agnostic. I just find all religious texts to be really interesting.)  
  
Oh and another thing kiddies! I changed the rating from pg-13 to R, so you're going to have to check out the R section now. sigh. I wish that on default fanfiction.net would just put GR instead of GPg-13. it's just... really annoying for me the change it every time I want to go look around for fics!!!!  
  
OH! AND REMEMBER : NOT SUITABLE FOR CHILDREN UNDER 17 does not mean banned from anyone under 17. Suitable being the key word here. Psh. besides anyone over 12 is considered a teenager or young adult, not child.  
  
Have fun, please R&R.  
  
~~~ ***The group cautiously entered his mindscape, the whole place was dark, like those haunted movies where there was never ending path in the forest of black twisted trees.  
  
The group hurriedly scattered and hid behind some trees once they saw the monsters come out of the darkness and head towards the road. As William was running as fast as he could, he tripped in his haste and fell. Unexpectedly, Nemiphoren appeared out of nowhere and caught up with Will before the other monsters. The group was taken back by his appearance; he looked like street gangster with blue tinted skin and two brown horns poking out of his bright red hair. Buffy cried out, trying to warn Will of the demon. However the demon didn't attack the boy. Instead, it scooped up the little boy from the ground and continued to run while carrying him. Moments later all sorts of beast, demons, and monsters chased after the two running figures.  
  
At that moment, unknown to them all, the Creature smiled as it watched Buffy and her group of friends chase after the demons. 'Well, well, what do we have here? It seems that we have guests. I can't have them waking Will up from my wonderful world of pain I've created just of him. I think I should give them. a 'proper' introduction.'  
  
Buffy nodded towards the others and followed after the group of demons. Eventually the dreary landscape of the dark forest disappeared and so did the monsters as Nemiphoren and Will ended up in a field of flowers. In the middle of the field stood another copy of Buffy, Angel and the Scooby team (excluding the Angel investigations team). Nemiphoren stopped and started to run the other way once he saw the group. Will yelled at the demon soul.  
  
"No wait! We're safe! It's Buffy and the others; they'll protect us. Nemi stop!"  
  
Nemi shook his head, "Things aren't what they seem. We have to get out of here."  
  
"No! Nemi! Let me go!" Will cried out as he wiggled out of Nemi's grasp and ran towards the group!  
  
"Will! Stop! This isn't real! They're going to hurt you. Don't get any close. Damn!" Nemi cursed as he chased after Will's swiftly disappearing figure.  
  
The fake Buffy held out her arms, "Come my precious William. I'm here for you. I'll take care of you."  
  
The other replicas gave Will frighteningly plastic smiles, but Will didn't notice. He was too happy to see Buffy once again.  
  
Nemiphoren profusely cursed as he soon closed in on Will and then gabbed Will before he could reach the replicated Buffy.  
  
The false Buffy gave Nemiphoren a blank look, "Nemi, you know it's not nice to deny Will what he wants. Give him to us."  
  
The other imitations held out their hands. Nemi gripped Will even harder, "Not this time. This isn't going to happen again."  
  
Will winced at Nemi's grip, "Ouch. Nemi, you're hurting me."  
  
Nemi didn't respond but he loosened his grip a little. During this time, he had kept his attention on the fake Buffy the whole time and he hadn't noticed the fake Xander slip away from the group and sneak behind him. Suddenly Nemi blacked out and dropped Will as Xander smashed him over the head with a heavy metal staff.  
  
The replicas narrowed their eyes and gave sinister smiles at the same time as Xander raised his metal staff and speared Will through the upper right leg.  
  
The real Buffy and the group came just in time to watch Xander spear Will through the leg. Buffy screamed as she charged at the fake Xander, but only found herself running right through him, like a ghost. ***  
  
~~~  
  
Aoide sighed forlornly as she stared at her mug of tea. She had just told Leng who she was and how she came to associate herself with William and also the strange things that had been happening the last few days. Leng nodded, knowing that Aoide wasn't lying to her.  
  
"But I still have no idea where William disappeared to." Aoide said as she shook her head.  
  
"I can do a tracing spell." Leng announced as she headed to the coffee table. "Can you go find a map of L.A? Using that, I should be able to pinpoint where William is. The sooner we find him, the better. Something is very wrong right now. I don't know what, but we have to get him before it's too late."  
  
Aoide nodded as she ran over to the closet and pulled out a large road map of L.A. and returned to Leng's side. Leng had started to pull out some herbs and potions out of her purse as she prepared for the spell.  
  
"This won't take long. Get ready to leave."  
  
~~~  
  
Lucifer leaned against the old stonewall as he fiddled with his fingers, contemplating the predicament he was in. Finally he spoke, "You know I'm gradually getting weaker as the centuries go by. I can't fight off you guys for much longer. And you probably won't be around to save my ass the next time around."  
  
Michael nodded, looking down at the dirt floor, "I know. You didn't have to oppose Metatron you know! You should have just kept your damn mouth shut."  
  
"And what?! I was the only one there who had the balls to stand up to him! Metatron being the first Archangel does not give him the right to rule over us! We were all created equally in different ways. You've got the strength. dammit! You're probably even stronger than the last time I saw you!" Lucifer yelled at Michael, then he took a few deep breaths and calmed down once more.  
  
"God never appointed anyone to be the leader. Metatron was just a messenger that he used to check up on us."  
  
Michael shook his head, "You could have been redeemed, but no. you had to attack God's son!"  
  
"I thought that God was the one who forced me to fall, I didn't know it was Metatron until a fallen angel told me about what the hell was going on. He always had a grudge against ME! Just because I like humans more, I told him that they couldn't be innocent and stupid forever. He wanted it that way so it'd be easier to rule them! So go figure. he forces me to fall and I have to spend eternity guarding the gates of Hell and humans hate me! Oh the irony of it all!"  
  
"That's not how the Bible tells it." Michael retorted.  
  
"Bull! The Bible only knows what Metatron tells 'his' seers. You know that! You think he going tell the seers, " I didn't like Lucifael and his stupid sentimental feelings toward humans, so I decided to dumped his sorry ass in hell. And P.S. I am also a corrupt power hungry archangels that wants all humans to follow me like zombies."? "  
  
"Your sarcasm isn't helping."  
  
"Quit your idiotic stoic act! Deep down inside, you know what happened, but you're still in denial." Lucifer shouted at Michael, his voice was tired, but determined.  
  
Then, both archangels fell into an uneasy silence, unsure of what to say to the other anymore.  
  
~~~  
  
***At first Will had screamed as Xander pierced his leg, but now he was whimpering as he tried to reach out towards the fake Buffy.  
  
"Please." He cried out to her, "Please help me."  
  
Buffy was looking down on Will  
  
Condescendingly, not moving another inch to help him. Then Willow appeared with an ax in her hand. Her boots came down upon Will's hand, crushing it into the ground, causing him to scream again as he tried to retract his broken hand.  
  
Willow growled at him, "If you don't stop moving little boy I can't make a clean cut."  
  
In that instant she brought her ax down and severed his right arm. The pain was unbearable, his brain was practically blanking out as the white shooting sparks channeled through his whole body. The real Willow shrank back, "No.. I would never do that, why would I do that?! That's not me!"  
  
Lorne took pity on the traumatized witch and hugged her, "It's only a nightmare, it'll soon be over, it's okay. it's okay."  
  
Then the false Giles pulled out a shotgun and aimed at Spike's left leg.  
  
"You should have stayed away from Buffy like you were told," He said and fired. Will gripped the ground with shaking hands, unable to vocalize the pain he was in.  
  
The real Giles took out his handkerchief and started to wring it in his hands. "I-I wouldn't, I mean, oh. God."  
  
Then the fake Dawn walked forward, not saying a word as she plunged a dagger into Will's stomach.  
  
The real Dawn started to cry again and ran into Gile's arms, "Make it stop. Please make it stop, I can't watch anymore!"  
  
The real Willow gasped as she saw a fake Tara appear, she was holding a candle and a few drops of burning hot wax fell onto his skin, causing it to blister, burn and peel*.  
  
The fake Anya was next, she was holding a wicked looking sword and plunged it down into Will's groin. Then she said, "It's what vengeance demons do dear, after all Buffy and Dru wanted revenge on you for being unfaithful to them ."  
  
The real Anya was silent as she watched this, this time truly having nothing to say. Knowing that in the past she had actually done deeds like this to unfaithful men.  
  
Finally the fake Buffy walked forward as the imitation Scoobies backed away from Will's body. The fake Buffy slowly crouched down over the semi- conscious Will. Her nails slowly grew longer and sharper until they looked like five pairs of sinister looking knives. Then she plunged her right hand into Will's chest and pulled out his still warm beating heart.  
  
"You won't be needing this anymore." The fake Buffy said in a menacing tone as she started to back away. Will's weak hand reach out and the edge of her pants and he pleaded to her, "Please. give it back.it hurts. hurts..."  
  
Will's voice gradually became softer as his eyes glazed over and his body fell limp and cold. The fake Buffy tore her pant leg away from him, walked away with the other imitation Scoobies and disappeared. The real Buffy screamed as she ran over to Will's side. She reached out and realized that he had suddenly become tangible.  
  
She quickly shook his shoulders. "Will? Spike. please! No.. it.. noo.."  
  
Buffy didn't realize that she was crying until she saw her tears splash onto Will's cold cheek. She then reached out and picked up his body. Slowly she stood up and walked towards the real Scoobies holding his corpse. Before anyone could say anything Buffy shook her head. "I know that they weren't us. But it's too late."  
  
As Buffy finished her last word the field of grass and flowers started to whither and from the ground rose bones and rotting flesh. Then the lush green hill became black as the skies turned red and rained blood upon them.  
  
Cordy screamed when she realized that she was standing on a skull. She quickly ran over to Angel's side and held his arm in a vice grip. Giles ended up taking off his glasses and shoving them into his pocket. The others were all panicking in their own way. And then the situation suddenly became worse when Will's corpse disappeared from Buffy's arms. She started to look around frantically for him, trudging through the sharp jutting bones and fighting the urge to throw up from the smell of rotting flesh. Anya was the first to notice as they began to sink into the ground that started to swallow them up. It was useless trying to pull out, since the struggling managed to pull them in even faster. Eventually the group blacked out as they were swallowed into the ground. ***  
  
~~~  
  
Leng called out after some intense concentration, "I found him. Let's go."  
  
Leng stood up as she highlighted the hotel where he was at and took the map with her. They grabbed the keys to one of the BMWs that William owned and ran down to the parking garage. Once they got out of the elevator, Aoide blipped the car and they got in, speeding towards their destination.  
  
~~~  
  
***Buffy, the Scoobies, Angel and his team gasped for breath as they woke up. They had blacked out once they sank into the ground. They were expecting to wake up in the hotel, but no, they were in some strange place where everything was gray colored. Dawn suddenly noticed Nemiphoren's slumped over figure that was cradling Will's lifeless body. Suddenly Nemi woke up and looked down at Will, checking his all-white eyes and shaking him a little. Buffy's demon senses were tingling as she turned around and saw Dawn walking over to Nemi.  
  
"No Dawn! You might get hurt!" Buffy yelled out to her.  
  
Dawn ignored Buffy's cry and sat down next to Nemi, Nemi looked at her and then looked back down at Will, "Hey Niblet."  
  
Dawn smiled softly at the endearing name. "Is he dead?"  
  
Nemi shook his head, "No, although I wish he was right now. This is too much. It's like being slowly tortured physically and mentally for him. If I could, I would put him out of his misery right now. Put him at peace, instead of being torn apart bit by bit. But I can't. I can't hurt him."  
  
Buffy now stood behind Nemi and she spoke up, "But we saw him die."  
  
Nemi shook his head, "No, he can't die in that world which the Creature created for him. He just feels horrific ranges of pain and the Creature feeds off of it. After each episode of his 'dying', it starts all over again. It may be a different dream, but they always end up with him going insane and dying. It just keeps repeating and repeating. It'll never stop."  
  
"We have to find a way to get rid of this Creature," Dawn said urgently.  
  
Nemi shook his head, it's not that easy. It's latched onto him because of his suffering, if you take away his suffering, then it'll go away. But. that. I don't even know if I can bring him back. He's." Nemi stopped, not wanting to finish the sentence, but the others knew what he meant.  
  
Suddenly the group felt a jolt as they felt themselves pulled from Spike's mindscape. *** ~~~  
  
Aoide waited in the car as Leng ran upstairs to where William was and found the group surrounding him. She knew that they were probing his mind. Quickly, she doused both candles and picked up Spike's unconscious form and walked out the door.  
  
Buffy and the other gasped as they really woke up this time, only to find a very tall Asian woman carrying Spike out of the room.  
  
Everyone quickly ran after her departing figure. Angel got to her first.  
  
"What do you think you're doing?!"  
  
"I'm saving him. He's going to die, if you haven't noticed already. You should have never taken this so far!" Leng yelled back, standing her ground against the master vampire.  
  
"He's our friend!" Dawn cried out as she walked over.  
  
"I don't think friends try to kill each other with slow, agonizing deaths." Leng said as she glared at Dawn and the others.  
  
"We didn't know that this would happen!" Giles cut in.  
  
"Then you should have researched it before you started playing with such forces!"  
  
Buffy put her hand on Leng's shoulder, "We need to help him."  
  
Leng shrugged Buffy's hand off and backed a few steps, she narrowed her eyes and spoke to them in an icy, hateful voice, "Haven't you done enough already? It's best that you stay away from him, permanently."  
  
Then Leng swiftly turned around and walked out of the hotel with Spike in her arms.  
  
~~~  
  
Michael suddenly sat up as he felt a slight tingle in his mind.  
  
Lucifer looked at him, "What is it?"  
  
"Leng got William back, I need to go."  
  
"Wait a minute." Lucifer said as he held his hand out.  
  
Michael paused for a second.  
  
"If you forget everything, how can you help me in the final battle?"  
  
"The forgetting potion doesn't work on archangels. I'll schedule a meeting with you sometime."  
  
Lucifer nodded. "Alright."  
  
Then in a flash of light, both archangels disappeared and went on their separate ways.  
  
~~~  
  
Michael tapped Leng's shoulder, "I need to talk to you before you give him the spell."  
  
Leng nodded and they went into another room, out of Aoide's earshot.  
  
Leng looked straight at Michael's violet colored eyes, "What is it?"  
  
"After you give William the forgetting potion and un-exorcise me, I need you to do another spell."  
  
Leng raised an eyebrow. "To?."  
  
" I want you to do a spell that makes me repulsed or hate Buffy. I need to keep William as far away from her as possible. If this fiasco ever happens again, we won't be able to save him."  
  
Leng nodded. "Yes, that is a good idea."  
  
~~~  
  
(the next morning)  
  
William shakily woke up with a groan and rubbed his aching head, "What happened?"  
  
Leng was sitting at the foot of his bed. "You got drunk last night. Luckily Aoide picked me up from my lecture as you were throwing up in the bathroom."  
  
William frowned as he looked down at his bed sheets with is clear blue eyes, "I don't remember."  
  
Leng rolled here eyes, "Well that usually happens when you're drunk."  
  
William shook his head, " I never get drunk."  
  
"Aoide told me that what you told her when you tried to out-drink some 300 pound guy at the bar last night."  
  
William looked at her sheepishly, "Oops?"  
  
Leng shook her head, "You're place is a mess and you are a mess. I'm going to ask Owen to have Dillon come down here."  
  
"I don't like Dillon, he's anal."  
  
"God, you're even picky about manservants. Stop being such a baby. fine I'll call Jeff." Leng told William in an annoyed voice. "I cancelled your meetings for today. Owen took care of everything while you were away on the business trip."  
  
"Business trip?"  
  
"The company in Kyoto.?"  
  
"Oh my god. I can't remember." William groaned as he gripped his head.  
  
"Well then, you better work 10 times as hard now making up for the missed time." Leng said as she walked out of his room.  
  
"Where are you going?!" William called out.  
  
"I'm leaving."  
  
"Already?! But you just got here!"  
  
Leng pretended to examine him in worry, " I was here for about a week."  
  
William gave her a weird look and them mumbled to himself, " I must still be drunk."  
  
Cont.  
  
*yes, I know that's the name of a Stabbing Westward album  
  
additional note to clear things up: when Spike's eyes are completely violet = Michael is in control / when Spike's eyes are blue with a purple tint = Michael and Spike are in control / When Spike's eyes are completely blue = Spike is in control.  
  
Sorry if there were spelling or grammar errors, I was trying to get this Section of the story finished up before the season 7 premiere. 


	16. chapter 16

Chapter 16  
  
Note: I usually don't name my chapters since I understand how people get all confused and . stuff. when they have to remember the title and the chapter. However in this case, if I did name this chapter, it would have been called "Return to Normality" . ~_~ no I'm not President Wilson.  
  
Yes, the story does sound like the theme is coming from Dogma and yes I have seen that movie and enjoyed it. But my ideas are not really from Dogma, actually my ideas came from the "His Dark Materials" Trilogy by Philip Pullman (that man is like a modern day Tolkien, gotta love him.). I saw a lot of things differently after I read his books, great writer he is..  
  
Coughs up a lung. horribly sick right now and hallucinating too. Most of the time I think I'm floating and seeing blue dragons and orange cows. sorry the story is coming so slowly.  
  
R&R pwwwease!  
  
  
  
  
  
~~~ ( Three months later)  
  
William's POV  
  
Ever since that night when I woke up drunk and Leng hovering over me, I haven't felt the same. There's this sickness, this empty feeling that eats away at your gut and throbs in your mind. I can tell that I've been more self-destructive lately. Not in a suicidal way, but in a way that hurts all those around me. The feeling claws away at me and makes my temper violent and my tongue caustic. This week I've already made Aoide cry and run to her room in broken sobs three times and I've received annoyed and disapproving looks from Owen twice.  
  
I hate this feeling of desperation that comes out of nowhere and makes me practically immobile. I can't sleep anymore and I find myself indulging excessively in clubs, drinking, drugs and sex. My new darker life hasn't affected my day life yet, I've been popping pills every morning. I know I can't keep up this facade forever, but I still keep doing it. I need to live on the edge, because it feels like every moment counts. I try to cram in as many emotions as I can in an hour and sometimes find myself on the verge of going completely insane.  
  
It's so morbid that every time I space out, I think about dying. I hate the thought of being gone forever, not knowing what's happening next. It's like I wish time could completely stop once I die, that way I won't miss a thing.  
  
I can feel this foreign coldness settling in whenever I'm talking to someone and they bring up things that apparently happened while I was 'out of it'. It's funny, it's like there's this one-month gap in my life that I'll never know or see and I'm hearing people tell me about it. Apparently in that time period I had met Aoide. Maybe that's why I'm so hostile to her now. All of a sudden, I have this super strong girl living with me, I have no idea how we met, whether she can be trusted or why I invited her to stay with me. But I'm stuck with her.  
  
I don't trust anyone now, not even Owen. He's extremely annoyed that I call him Owen now instead of Grandpa. And ever time I say "Owen" I can see him mentally flinch. I feel bad and yet I am elated that I have such power over him. I know, it's sick.  
  
Everything was going pretty well after the first week I woke up, until Jeff went over my schedule.  
  
~~~  
  
William nodded as he took the agenda from his manservant, "Thank you, Jeff."  
  
Everything on the agenda was perfectly normal, except for the meeting with one of the TIME journalists located in L.A. William blinked a few times, wondering if it was just something in his eyes, but when he cleared his eyes and saw that it was still there. He was somewhat disturbed.  
  
"Jeff!"  
  
Jeff returned from his position in the doorway, "Yes sir?"  
  
"Why do I have a meeting with TIME magazine?"  
  
Jeff shrugged, "Perhaps you should ask your secretary."  
  
William nodded and speed dialed Sharon.  
  
Sharon was somewhat groggy when she picked up the phone. He had forgotten that it was already 12 at night and that most people were asleep by now.  
  
"Yes William?"  
  
"How did you know it was me?"  
  
"Only you call me at ungodly hours of the night. What's wrong?"  
  
"I have a meeting with this journalist that I've never met. Stephanie Fieldman?"  
  
"oh. she wrote a derisive article about you and your business practices in Time magazine. You said that you wanted to have a 'talk' with her."  
  
William frowned, "What? When?"  
  
"Oh.. oh no sweetie, it was during that time you had amnesia. I'm sorry."  
  
William's eyes darkened and he scowled as he listened Sharon's pitying tone. "I don't want your sympathy Sharon. I just want the matter explained to me. I want a copy of that article on my desk first thing tomorrow morning and a file on Ms. Fieldman."  
  
"No, William, you know I didn't say that!"  
  
"I don't care, it was in your voice."  
  
William hung up on Sharon before she could reply and stormed up to his room. But that night he couldn't fall asleep and instead he desperately tried scratch at the blinds that were like steel shields blocking his memory. ~~~  
  
The next day I had read the article and went through the files on Stephanie Fieldman. Her records were clean as a slate, but I doubt her tactics were. After reading the article about five times I had finally realized what was bugging me. One of the sections talked about the non-regulation methods that one of LuminaCorp's older power plants used since it was changed into a test site for science experiments. The thing was, that power plant was totally off limits, private property and needed a key to get into. After reviewing most of the tapes, I had finally caught some footage of Ms. Fieldman breaking and entering.  
  
~~~  
  
William smiled as he shook hand with Steve Jacobson, editor for the TIMEs office in L.A. Then both men took a seat at opposite sides of the desk.  
  
"So Mr. Dale, what brings you here?"  
  
William sighed deeply and pulled out a file he had in his suitcase. "I am deeply disturbed by the ethics of some of your employees Mr. Jacobson, especially Ms. Fieldman's. not too long ago she wrote a scalding article about me and my company."  
  
Mr. Jacobson shrugged, "The people have the right to know what is going on, freedom of the press."  
  
William shook his head, "It's not the article that I'm unhappy about, it's the measures that Ms. Fieldman has taken to ensure her article."  
  
William reached into his suitcase and pulled out three tapes. "I have footage of Ms. Fieldman breaking and entering into one of my science labs and going through confidential files. So here, the deal: I can either sue you or you fire Ms. Fieldman."  
  
Steve Jacobson put the tapes into a VCR next to his desk and watched as Ms. Fieldman used acid to eat away at the locks and shove open the door. Jacobson was mute the entire time while watching the tapes, when the tapes were over Jacobson turned to William.  
  
"I am truly sorry, but you must know that Ms. Fieldman is one of out best reporters, I can't just fire such a key person. Let me think this over."  
  
William nodded as he took back the tapes and the file. Then, right before he left William looked around the spacious editor's room.  
  
"You know, this would be the perfect place to set up my office."  
  
Mr. Jacobson's face darkened, "This building is not for sale."  
  
William returned with a challenging smirk, "Everything is for sale Mr. Jacobson, you just have to know what your willing to pay for it."  
  
Then Jacobson paled as he struggled to gulp.  
  
William gave a low laugh as he opened the door and strode complacently out of the editor's office.  
  
The next day, Stephanie found a pink slip lying on her desk. ~~~  
  
I wanted to be nice to everyone, I really did. But every time I spoke, the words were caustic and vindictive. It was like I needed to hurts someone. I needed to hurt everyone because I was so lost.  
  
~~~~  
  
Buffy unhappily sat at the kitchen island as she sipped some cold coffee that she was too lazy to heat up again. Three months ago, they had left L.A. right after Spike disappeared once more. But news from Angel said that Spike. or was it William? was out and about and back to his billionaire self. After hearing the news for the first time, she wanted to rush back to L.A. and bring Spike home. However, in the end, she stayed home. Not because she didn't want him. it was the 'what ifs'. Like, what if he was happy the way he was, being a billionaire and all? What if he hated her forever for the pain that she had caused him? What if he refused to see her? What if. what if. what if.?  
  
In the end, the questions came crashing down around her and she let go of the idea of finding him again. Suddenly the phone rang.  
  
Buffy walked over to the phone hanging on the wall and answered, "Hello?"  
  
"Hi sweetie. It's dad."  
  
Buffy froze, one part of her was jumping for joy that her daddy had finally called them after all those years. The other part screamed in bitterness and hate at his audacity to call her after leaving them to be so miserable and penniless.  
  
"Dad." Buffy answered back, trying to get him to say something first. She really couldn't say that she missed him. Because truthfully, she didn't, he was long gone out of their lives for almost ten years. And yet here he was, out of the blue, on the phone with her.  
  
"Buffy," Hank paused for a second. "I've heard what's been happening with you and Dawn. And I wanted to help out. I know that you don't have enough money to pay for Dawn to finish up her classes in the next two years so I'm offering to pay for the rest of her way through college and get the college money burden off of your back."  
  
Buffy gaped, stunned that her father was finally helping out for a change. but something wasn't right. There had to be strings, she knew her dad too well. "But what's the catch?"  
  
There was a disturbing silence on the other side, but finally Hank answered, "In return, I want Dawn to come down to UCLA and live with me. Sunnydale isn't safe for her and your house is barely suitable to live in."  
  
Buffy gripped onto a wooden spoon and broke it with her fingers, trying to hold the rage inside of her. But she refrained from yelling at him, if she pissed off her dad, she could be throwing away Dawn's only chance to complete her education and get a descent job.  
  
After a while of cooling down, Buffy picked up the phone and spoke to her father again. "I'm going to have to think it over."  
  
"Look Buffy, why don't you and Dawn come down to L.A. for a few days and look at the place I've picked out for Dawn and let her see the UCLA campus. I know some people and I think I can get her transferred over there."  
  
All of Buffy's instincts scream 'NO!!!', but Buffy knew that Dawn's future was more important than her problems with her father.  
  
"Okay."  
  
"Great I'll see you on Friday."  
  
~~~ (Friday, early morning)  
  
"Dawn! Do you have all your stuff?!" Buffy yelled as she saw her father's approaching car.  
  
"Yeah! Be down in a minute!" Dawn answered back.  
  
A few moments later, Dawn carried her large baggage down the stairs.  
  
"Is this going to be enough for one week?" Dawn inquired.  
  
Buffy rolled her eyes. "Look, if you don't have enough clothes, we can buy you stuff in L.A."  
  
Dawn nodded and both sisters headed outside to greet their father.  
  
~~~ (that afternoon)  
  
William talked at Jeff as he skillfully put on his tie, "I have a 4 hour meeting later today with some clients from Korea. So I won't be back for dinner, you have the rest of the night off. Lock the door on your way out. If I need help, I'll call you..."  
  
Jeff nodded as, then he picked up William's jacket and helped him put it on. William meticulously flattened the lapels and dusted off the sleeves.  
  
"How do I look?" William asked, not turning around.  
  
"Very professional sir."  
  
"Good."  
  
~~~  
  
Angel gaped as he saw Buffy walk into his office. "Buffy! What are you doing here? Is there another apocalypse coming?"  
  
Buffy shook her head. "Nah, actually I'm here because of dad."  
  
Angel frowned, he really hated Buffy's dad and what he did to her.  
  
"Why?"  
  
"I don't have enough money and dad offered to pay for Dawn's tuition. but there was a catch, Dawn has to live in L.A. with dad and go to UCLA. I don't want to screw up this opportunity for Dawn, so I'm showing her around and letting her see if she likes it around here."  
  
Angel sighed, "I wish there was something I could do."  
  
Buffy shrugged, "There isn't anything anyone can do. I know that your business has been slow lately with Wolfram and Harte gone.Anyways, I wouldn't have been able to take your money."  
  
"So what are you doing here?"  
  
"Oh, just bored. Wondering if there's anything I can do to help out."  
  
"You can help me file papers?"  
  
Buffy threw her hands in the air. "Sure. Beats sitting around and watch my sister being taken away from me." ~~~ (That night)  
  
William bowed a little as he shook hands with his clients and smiled. It was nice doing business with these men, they knew what they wanted and what he wanted. So the meeting ended fairly early; about 2 hours earlier than he had expected.  
  
William quietly retreated to his office and decided to take a break. ~~~ (Meanwhile in an apartment somewhere in downtown L.A.)  
  
Stephanie angrily huffed as she tossed her old files away into the garbage can and then she began to mutter curses as she saw that the garbage can was too full to take anymore. She angrily stood up and picked up the garbage can and walked out of her apartment to the garbage chute near by.  
  
While she was walking, she was distracted, thinking of horrific ways to torture her editor for firing her. Every good reporters broke a few laws to get a great story, if it weren't for her he wouldn't have been able to get some many 'hot' stories before all the other magazines with such detail and coverage. 'That ungrateful bastard.' Stephanie thought as she opened the garbage chute, 'I am the best reporter in L.A.. if only that damn CEO hadn't turning in those @(&*^ tapes!!!!!!!'  
  
With a forceful shove she dumped the garbage, however in her absentmindedness, she hadn't noticed that the chute's spring was wound up so tight. Suddenly her upper body was caught in the chute and because of her thin figure, she didn't have enough strength to pull out. In that moment, the chute closed in on her stomach and forced her to fall through the pipe and into the large garbage can.  
  
Stephanie threw a tantrum in the garbage can, using colorful curses as she tried to climb out of the quicksand-like masses. But fate had other plans. In that moment Bobby, who lived in room 906 finally decided to throw out his old typewriter since he finally got his new computer from his grandparents for his birthday. The heavy metal typewriter began to accelerate more as gravity pulled it down. The resulting velocity was so great that the typewriter kill Stephanie on impact.  
  
Cont. 


	17. chapter 17

Note: *blink blink* what the heck? Why is someone cussing me out for something I didn't do? After reading the reviews, I am totally confused. I didn't kill Faith. why does this guy think I killed Faith? Is he allowed to cuss me out for no reason? *sigh* I wish people would READ the story thoroughly. why do I have to deal with this mess? I'm sick, I'm on the rag, and my school work is piling up ~_~ I totally didn't need a message like that.  
  
Urg, still sick. that's just great. after 3 years of not being sick, suddenly I'm sick for like a week! ~_~ I hate being sick, esp. because I can't miss school.  
  
Detective Anderson looked over his files on the recent death of Stephanie Fieldman. She was found around 24 hours after she died pulverized in the compactor. However the coroner showed that her death wasn't due to the garbage truck. Apparently she was struck in the skull with a heavy object before she was mutilated. The last person she had met was her editor, he was a suspect, however at the time of the murder he was in the office the whole time. The only other person that was possible was William Dale.  
  
It made sense, Stephanie may have seen something in Mr. Dale's files that were confidential and this was the only way to silence her. ~~~ (William's office)  
  
"Sir, Detective Anderson is here to see you."  
  
"What? Why?"  
  
"He says that you're a prime suspect to a murder."  
  
"What?!"  
  
Sharon shrugged and then asked, "Would you like me to call your lawyer?"  
  
William nodded as he furrowed his brow. "Yes, of course."  
  
"Would you like to speak to him now?"  
  
William hesitated for a second and gave a deep sigh, "Sure. I'd like to hear how I somehow got into this mess."  
  
Detective Anderson bowed slightly to Sharon and entered William's office cautiously. William stood up and waved toward the chair facing his desk.  
  
"Please have a seat."  
  
Detective Anderson nodded as both he and William sat down.  
  
"How can I help you?"  
  
"I would like to ask where you were yesterday around 5:30 pm."  
  
"I was in my office for sometime and later I went to the coffee shop across the street to relax and do some paperwork."  
  
Anderson nodded as he pulled out a pad and jotted down some notes. "I'm going to have to question the shop owner to back up your alibi."  
  
William nodded. "Sure. Um, I'm still a little confused as to what I'm being accused of."  
  
"We suspect that you are involved in the murder of Stephanie Fieldman."  
  
"The reporter?"  
  
"Yes. Now, how well did you know Mrs. Fieldman."  
  
"She interviewed me once."  
  
"How did you react to her scathing article about you and your company?"  
  
". perhaps we should wait until my lawyer gets here. I'm not a liberty to say at the moment."  
  
Anderson frowned as he closed his notepad, "Fine. I won't push, but if you."  
  
William cut him off, "Don't accuse me of something I didn't do. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a meeting to attend to. Sharon will show you the way out."  
  
~~~  
  
The reporters rushed Anderson as he stepped out of LuminaCorp. Swiftly, the LuminaCorp bodyguards came to his side and helped him navigate through the horde of bodies, microphones and cameras. Detective Anderson suddenly saw one of his colleagues, Eliza, and ran up to her.  
  
"I thought I told you not to leak out anything about the case until we've got the suspects."  
  
Eliza shook her head, " I didn't leak anything. The LAPD chief officer did and so did the TIMEs editor. Now they won't stop hounding us."  
  
The reporters kept pushing forward despite the guard's attempts to keep them at bay. They kept shouting out questions, asking Anderson for a statement or what he was doing in front of LuminaCorp.  
  
Anderson's shoulders fell as he gave a sigh and he turned around to face the reporters. He held his hands up to silence their inquisitions. "We're currently investigating the homicide of reporter, Stephanie Fieldman."  
  
One of the reporters cut in, "Where and when did you find her?"  
  
"We found her at the Recycling compound about 13 hours ago."  
  
"How did she die?" Another cut in.  
  
"We suspect that she received a blow to the skull and her body was dumped into a garbage container near her apartment."  
  
"Why are you here at LuminaCorp."  
  
Anderson hesitated for a second and look at Eliza, who shrugged. Anderson cleared his throat and prayed that he wasn't making a mistake. "We suspect that William Dale may be involved in the murder of Stephanie Fieldman."  
  
The reporters gasped and suddenly the crowd was in an uproar and barraged Detective Anderson with more questions. Anderson shook his head as he retreated to his vehicle and drove away from the crowd. ~~~  
  
Buffy gaped as she watched the live news. She was settling into her room and decided to watch some TV while she put her things away. When suddenly the newscaster announce the live coverage of the murder of Stephanie Fieldman. She had sat down on the bed, drawn into the news. And now, she could feel despair, hate, betrayal, sadness and a gamut of emotions flying through her.  
  
Buffy quickly called Angel Investigations.  
  
"Angel!"  
  
"Buffy? Is that you? What's wrong?"  
  
"Turn on the news."  
  
"Angel ran over to the radio he had and turned to a news station."  
  
He frowned as he heard the news. Then he talked to Buffy again.  
  
"Do you think he's gone back again. to killing people?"  
  
"I don't know. I don't know what's happened to him. Don't you think he would have called us if he woke up?" Angel pinched the bridge of his nose. " I'm. not sure."  
  
"Should I tell the others?"  
  
"No. not yet, we're not sure yet. They said he was a suspect."  
  
"Maybe I should talk to him."  
  
Angel chewed on his lower lip, " I don't think that's a good idea. What if he."  
  
"No. I don't think he did it."  
  
"You don't know what he can do. We don't know him anymore Buffy. He massacred all of Wolfram and Hart. He threatened to kill us and we know he's mentally unstable."  
  
"Fine."  
  
"Just wait for a bit. If things get worse, we'll also investigate."  
  
Buffy nodded. "Okay."  
  
Then Angel said goodbye to Buffy and hung up.  
  
Buffy looked at the phone and fidgeted around the room for a while. During dinner, she could barely eat and she kept spacing out as he mind went a mile a minute. She new that her father disapproved of her behavior and gave him even more reason to take Dawn away, but she couldn't help it.  
  
Finally, that night Buffy broke her resolve and her promise to Angel as she snuck out of the house and headed to William's apartment. She tried to remember as clearly as possible what Cordy told her later about her first encounter with William. Eventually, she found herself in front of a very tall, sleek and expensive building. Buffy quietly snuck around the back and knocked out a janitor who was heading into the building. She quickly changed into his gray jumpsuit. The man at the front desk nodded to her as she passed by. She gave a sigh of relief when she realized that the janitor's name was Alex, which could have been a nickname for Alexandria.  
  
She glanced at the plaque on the sidewall, which indicated that William lived on the 21st floor and headed towards the elevator. When Buffy finally reached his floor, she decided to knock on his door instead of picking it open.  
  
William called from inside, "Who is it?"  
  
Buffy quickly moved away from the peekhole.  
  
William frowned as he saw no one there and thought maybe he was had a package dropped off. He casually started to open the door.  
  
Buffy quickly took this opportunity to kick the door the rest of the way, sending William sprawling on his back. William growled as he picked himself up and reached for the cell phone in his pocket, but Buffy was faster and she kicked it away.  
  
"Who the hell are you?!" William shouted at Buffy.  
  
Buffy frowned, "Don't play stupid with me!"  
  
During their fight Michael had woken up and taken over, now he was pretending that he didn't know Buffy.  
  
"Answer the question."  
  
"Don't you remember?"  
  
"Remember what?"  
  
"Do you know who Cordelia or Wesley are?"  
  
"Who?"  
  
Buffy blanched. "You don't remember."  
  
William threw his hands in the air, "That's it, I'm calling security. Today has been getting worse and worse."  
  
"Did you kill her?"  
  
"Who are you?!"  
  
"I'm Buffy Summers."  
  
"Okay, now why are you so concerned with this case? Are you an officer? Or a detective?"  
  
Buffy gulped, "No."  
  
William frowned, "I'll call the mental hospital while I'm at it."  
  
"Wait!"  
  
"Who the hell are you?! Why is this your concern?!"  
  
"I'm a friend. And I just want to know whether you did it."  
  
"No I didn't."  
  
"Are you."  
  
William cut her off, " I can't believe you have the audacity to walk in here without a warrant and interrogate me! Get out, or I'm calling the police."  
  
"No."  
  
William started to stride toward the phone and Buffy tackled him. William then spun around and shoved her to the floor with so much force that it knocked the air out of her.  
  
"Mrs. Summers, if I ever see your face again. I won't hesitate to report you. If you touch me again, I won't hesitate to kill you."  
  
Buffy stood up and William walked over to the door, holding it open for her. "Wait her, I'm going to have Jeff escort you out. I don't trust you."  
  
As William walked away, Buffy grabbed his sleeve. Instinctively, William's hand lashed out and slapped Buffy across the face. Buffy's shaking hand touched her bruised cheek as tears began to fill her eyes. William glared at her, showing no remorse and walked away.  
  
Buffy never saw William come back out again. Instead Jeff walked out with a plastic bag of ice and handed it to her as he gently escorted her out of the building. Jeff quietly drove her home and dropped her off in front of her father's house. Neither of them had exchanged words during the trip, except to give directions.  
  
As Buffy got out of the car, Jeff quietly spoke to her, "I suggest you stay away from Mr. Dale, for your own safety. I'm not threatening you, I'm just warning you that he's been very short of temper lately. He usually would never hit any woman. But he's been.acting unusual. I'm sorry for what he did."  
  
Buffy nodded, "Thank you. I shouldn't have intruded like that, I'm not sure what came over me.. Why are you being so nice to me?"  
  
"Don't tell anyone. but, truth is, William might have known you, he has a strange case of amnesia. He doesn't remember what happened to him for a week exactly two months ago."  
  
Buffy gaped, but her mind screamed out, 'So that's why!'  
  
Buffy closed her mouth and nodded mutely to Jeff as she turned around and returned to her father's house.  
  
~~~  
  
During the time Jeff had left to drop off Buffy, William called a number that he would have never anticipated to ever have to call.  
  
"Hello?" A dark sinuous voice answered.  
  
"I have a job." William quietly whispered  
  
"What kind?"  
  
"I want you watch Buffy Summers, but if she starts snooping around me or get into anything I'm involved in. then kill her." William answered as his pure violet eyes stared intently at the pen he was twirling in his left hand.  
  
"It'll cost a little more than my usual price if I have to stalk her."  
  
"That's not a problem. You're money will be in the usually drop off point.".  
  
"Pleasure doing business with you."  
  
"Just do your job Shadow."  
  
Cont. 


	18. chapter 18

Chapter 18  
  
Note: *sighs* I know the story has been lagging a little, truth is, I'm having a hard time trying to piece everything together, because I keep changing my mind as what's happening at the moment; it isn't as clear cut as the first 14 chapters or so. Yes, it is a b/s fic, but I just wanted to show some problems they might have before getting together. I don't particularly want to make my story where spike suddenly becomes overly nice and buffy and spike go into ultra-love mode. I want buffy to understand what she did to spike and if they get together, I'd rather it be a mutual thing instead of one practically becoming a subservient pansy begging for forgiveness.  
  
OMG. I have been so freaking busy lately! Arg! Stupid teachers. some of them should be repeatedly pummeled with rubber chickens!  
  
~~~  
  
"Took you long enough to contact me." Lucifer said as he stepped out of the shadows of the almost empty bar.  
  
William glared at him with dark violet eyes, "I've been busy."  
  
Lucifer tossed the front page of a newspaper on the table William was sitting at. "So I see."  
  
William glanced at the headline, which read, 'LuminaCorp CEO is number 1 suspect.'  
  
William closed his eyes and shook his head, "I have no idea how this mess happened. look, I'm not here to talk about this. Do you have it?"  
  
Lucifer opened up an intricately carved wooden case, which held a sword with a pure black blade overlaying another sword with a clear, transparent blade. Lucifer pulled out both swords and tossed the clear one to William. William caught the sword with ease and studied it was must interest. He ran his finger along the edge and lifted it. His finger looked untouched, but when he pressed down, a slight bit of blood began to pool at the tip. William licked the blood off of his finger.  
  
Lucifer smirked at William's action, "Satisfied? Both swords are sharpened down to an atom, cuts through anything, even Archangels."  
  
William tested the weight of the sword, "Nice, very light. is there a sheath for this?"  
  
Lucifer pulled open a bottom compartment in the wooden box and pulled out two metal sheaths. "They've been coated with some unearthly, magical metal which is suppose to keep the blades from cutting through. Although, I'm not took sure if that's true. just be careful."  
  
William nodded as he sheathed the sword and tied the scabbard to his back. Then he faced Lucifer again. "When is it?"  
  
"Soon."  
  
William raised an eyebrow. "You don't know?"  
  
"It doesn't really matter, time does not exist on the plane we're fighting on. We could be at war for 100 earth years and not a millisecond would pass here. So it doesn't really matter."  
  
William placed his hands on his hips.  
  
Lucifer laughed as he turned around, getting ready to leave. "If you really want to know. It'll be in 4 to 5 days. It's not like any of us can prepare for it or bring in any new players. We'll just have to wait it out."  
  
With that last word. Lucifer exited the club, leaving William in there alone with his thoughts.  
  
~~~  
  
Buffy kept glancing behind her as she tried to keep up with Dawn, her father and the tour group. She had this unnerving feeling that she was being followed, but she couldn't turn around and demand whomever was following her to show themselves.  
  
Buffy sighed as she quickened her pace and returned to Dawn's side. The tour guide was currently pointing at the dorms for UCLA and describing the type of dorm rooms that were inside. Buffy glanced at the tree and suddenly saw a flash of black, he eyes widened as she gripped Dawn's arm a little tighter. Dawn looked at Buffy with concern. "Is there something wrong?"  
  
Buffy shook her head and pretended to brush it off. After this, she had to go talk to Angel.  
  
~~~  
  
***Nemiphoren frowned at Michael's floating figure. This was the second time Michael had taken over and roughly shoved him back into the mindscape. Something weird was going on.  
  
Michael's suddenly raised his head and floated back to the ground and he woke up once more.  
  
Nemiphoren folded his arms and glared at Michael. "What the hell is going on?"  
  
Michael turned around in surprise, not realizing that Nemi was standing behind him. "W-what do you mean?"  
  
"You've been acting strange lately, especially after you met that blond headed girl. I have this feeling that I know her." Michael shook his head a little too quickly, "No you don't. I was just getting bad vibes from her, so I took over to make sure that we sent her away."  
  
Will peak his head out from behind Nemi, "I didn't sense bad vibes from her. Why did you send the bad man after her?"  
  
Michael shoved his hands in his pockets, " I know her and I know that she's bad news. Trust me."  
  
Nemi gave him a suspicious look and finally gave up with a sigh. "Fine, I know you aren't going to tell us what's going on.you have that defensive look right now. But I'm going to figure it out. You never take such drastic measures against any mortal."  
  
Nemi turned around and disappeared with Will.  
  
Michael let out a sigh and shook his head while muttering to himself, 'He'll understand one day. It's for the best.'***  
  
~~~  
  
"Detective Anderson!" The commissioner shouted as he slammed his hand down on the desk. "You weren't supposed to leak out any information! It is against protocol!"  
  
" But sir."  
  
"But nothing rookie!" The commissioner spat back. "I'm reassigning this case to another detective that is more responsible. This is a very rich and influential man we're deal with at the moment. I can't believe that you would tell those media leeches confidential information that hasn't been approved by me! You're suspended without pay starting now."  
  
Anderson shrunk into his chair and finally nodded as he walked away with his head bowed down.  
  
"Damn greedy rookie trying to make himself a media wh*re." The commissioner muttered under his breath. Then he marched out of the office and grabbed a passing officer. "I want Detective Jose in my office ASAP."  
  
The officer nodded as he trembled in fear at the commissioner's wrath and took off for Jose's office.  
  
~~~  
  
Buffy sighed as she sat in Angel's office while nursing a mug. Angel was pacing in the room while muttering curses after hearing what Buffy just told him about her visit to Spike. or was it William? And about this thing stalking her.  
  
"Why did you go visit him?"  
  
Buffy shrugged. "I-I don't know.?"  
  
"I think that William might have sent this stalker guy after you."  
  
Buffy nodded, "Yeah.. I thought so too, but why?"  
  
"He wants you to stay away from him."  
  
"I know, but even the William that we first met wasn't so paranoid or hostile!"  
  
"Maybe he's gone over the edge."  
  
Buffy rolled her eyes, " I don't think so, when I was at his apartment. Something felt off. I still can't put my finger on it though."  
  
"Look, you're priority number one right now. You're in danger and I think you should go back to Sunnydale."  
  
"What?! And lead this stalker back to my home?! No. Way."  
  
"Buffy."  
  
"No.."  
  
"But.."  
  
"NO!"  
  
Angel threw his hands down and gave an exasperated sigh. Damn she was stubborn.  
  
During this moment, a dark figure hidden in the bushes outside of Angel investigations wrote down 'Sunnydale' on his notepad as he pressed his headset closer to his ear, trying to get more information from the microphone he had hidden under Angel's desk.  
  
~~~  
  
Detective Jose examined the cadaver that used to be Stephanie Fieldman and looked back up at the coroner. "Okay, so yer sayin' that Stephanie was hit on the head and killed before her body was dumped into the garbage compactor. The coroner nodded as she lit up a cigarette. Detective Jose gave her a disapproving look. "Seniorita, those things can kill you."  
  
The coroner shrugged, "The fumes I inhale in here everyday will kill me faster than any little ol' cigarette. I stopped caring a long time ago."  
  
Jose sighed as he stuffed his hands in his pocket. "Have you seen this kind of blow before? I find the marking on her skull to be very unusual."  
  
"They are, I'm thinking that whoever killed her was probably on drugs or on some extreme adrenaline rush. Humans can't hit this hard. I've only seen bruises and wounds like this on car crash victims or suicide victims that jump off of buildings."  
  
Jose nodded as he took in the information and carefully assessed it. "Are there any DNA samples on her? From fingerprints? Or maybe rape?"  
  
The coroner shook her head. "Nope. Whoever handled her was very careful, probably wearing gloves."  
  
"Do you know what she was killed with?"  
  
"I was thinking a bat, but no wood splinters. Can't be a pole, unless it was a really thick one. maybe you should check out the recycling center, in the pile where she was found. I know that it's being kept in storage right now."  
  
Jose nodded, "Thank you seniorita." Then he reached over and plucked the cigarette out of her mouth. "You're a nice girl and I like working with you. I'd rather you didn't hurry off into death's arms so soon."  
  
The coroner laughed as she shook her head. "Fine, I'll try. Only for you Jose."  
  
Jose gave her a bright smile as he turned to exit, "Thank you." ~~~  
  
Officer Eliza groaned as she followed Jose into the where house. She groaned once she took a whiff of the odor coming from the saved pile of trash. Jose paid no heed to the smell and started to carefully pry apart the pieces of garbage. Eliza's eye twitched as she stood there, arms akimbo.  
  
Jose rolled his eyes and turned around, "I could use help sometime this century. or are you afraid of breaking a nail?"  
  
Eliza face soured and she mutely headed for the trash pile and started to pry apart the compacted pieces.  
  
Finally, after searching for about 2 hours Jose found a bloodied and smashed typewriter. He waved Eliza over and the both of them studied it with much interest. Jose bagged the typewriter and sent it off to the forensic investigators. ~~~ ***Nemi frowned as he watched Michael's frozen figure levitating in mid air. Michael was acting a little too suspicious lately, especially with him constantly taking control during the strangest times. Nemi concentrated slightly and saw Michael, through William's body, opening up a drawer beside his desk with a key and pull out a little black book with phone numbers.  
  
Nemi made a mental note of who Michael was calling as William's finger stopped under a few strange symbols and a very long phone number. Without alerting Michael, Nemi hurried over to Will and woke up. With their combined abilities, they managed to tap into the mindscape and eavesdrop on Michael's conversation.***  
  
"Do you have the notes for today?" William asked the person on the other line.  
  
"Yes. Apparently this girl is from Sunnydale, she's only visiting because her younger sister, Dawn, is thinking of enrolling into UCLA."  
  
"Good. go on."  
  
"Buffy visited Angel Investigations today at around 4:30 in the afternoon. Buffy seems to have enhanced senses from what I could tell. She seemed to be able to sense me following her."  
  
"You're going to have be more discrete. remember, no matter what happens. This is not to be connected back to me."  
  
"Yes, of course, it's apart of the contract."  
  
"Is that all?"  
  
"Oh, and the girl will most likely stay for another 2 weeks. And from what I can tell, she is in need of financial help."  
  
Michael nodded slowly while filing away the information. "Good, I our meeting will be a different time tomorrow. I have a meeting all day and I might not be able to catch you. In that case, update me the day after tomorrow."  
  
"Understood." With that last word, Shadow hung up.  
  
Michael studied the phone for a second and decided not to hang up. He quickly speed dialed Sharon.  
  
"Sharon."  
  
"Yes?"  
  
"I want you to look up Buffy Summer's financial records, debts, jobs, . actually, just give me the whole nine yards."  
  
"Alright."  
  
*** Michael finally shook out of his trance after he hung up. Before Michael could notice, Nemi quickly curled up with Will on the floor and pretended to be sleeping. Michael glanced at the sleeping figures and let out a sigh as he stretched a little and wandered off. Will still kept his eyes tightly shut as he clung onto Nemi. Nemi, on the other hand, immediately shot his eyes open once Michael was out of range and narrowed his eyes; studying Michael's retreating figure.  
  
Nemi turned back to Will, "We have to find out what's going on."  
  
Will looked up at Nemi quietly and nodded, "He's doing something bad, I can feel it. But I don't know why? Why does he want to hurt this Buffy girl?"  
  
Nemi rolled the name on his tongue a few times, "Buffy. Buffy. It sounds so familiar, but I can't put my finger on it."  
  
Will nodded in agreement. "I think we should find out more about her and why she's supposedly so 'dangerous'." Will added the little air quote, emphasizing the little lecture that Michael had given them earlier on how dangerous this girl, Buffy, was and how they should stay away from her.  
  
Nemi's eyes looked distant as he stared at where Michael was levitating earlier, " I have a plan."  
  
Cont. 


	19. chapter 19

Chapter 19  
  
Sorry, I've been really slow lately due to tons of schoolwork, college apps and my club. I'll try to type faster.  
  
Eliza groaned as Jose kept watching the surveillance tapes over and over again. Unfortunately there was only a surveillance camera watching the hallway and nowhere else. The garbage chute, where Stephanie was killed, was just around the corner at the end of the hallway.  
  
The tape always showed Stephanie walking out of her apartment with a garbage can and then returning. No one was in the hallway at all for hours before that and no one was even near the end of the hallway during the time of Stephanie's murder.  
  
Eliza shook her head, "Look Jose, whoever killed her was probably hiding around the corner for a long time."  
  
Jose narrowed his eyes as he watched the camera frame by frame for the umpteenth time. "It just doesn't make sense, we would have seen who was waiting there for her. Every person who threw away their garbage always came back and there was no one walking in the back of the hall, or else we would have seen them."  
  
Eliza rolled her eyes, clearly sick of this case. "Look, we're both tired and it's 3 in the morning, we'll come back to the tapes tomorrow."  
  
Jose shook his head, "No, tomorrow we go check out the apartment."  
  
~~~  
  
"Buffy, I think Wesley should watch you."  
  
"No!" Buffy snapped at Angel over the phone. "I don't want my sister getting all paranoid over this. It'll go away."  
  
"Buffy please!"  
  
"I'll be fine, besides I'm the slayer. I can take care of him."  
  
"We don't even."  
  
Buffy cut him off, "No, stop. We'll be fine."  
  
A groan came from the other end of the line followed by a string of curses.  
  
"Angel, just don't worry. Look, I'll go talk to Spike and get this straightened out."  
  
~~~  
  
William looked up at Sharon with violet eyes as she handed him a stack of papers, "There you are William. As much information I could find on Buffy Summers."  
  
William nodded as he leafed through as few pages.  
  
Sharon put her hands on her hips, "Quite a colorful history this girl has, setting schools on fire and getting arrested nearly twice. What does she have to do with you?"  
  
William straightened the papers and looked indifferent, "Oh, I saw her snooping around my penthouse the other day and got suspicious."  
  
"Do you want me to call security?"  
  
William shook his head, "No need. If there is a problem, I can take care of her."  
  
Sharon shrugged and shook her head, "I hope that cocky attitude of yours doesn't get you into more trouble than you can handle."  
  
William laughed, almost sinisterly, "Why Sharon, I thought you had more faith in me."  
  
Sharon walked out of William's office without another word. There was no point in provoking him when he was being such a jerk.  
  
~~~  
  
Jose looked into the garbage chute a few times and muttered to himself. It didn't make sense. If Stephanie was killed before being thrown into the chute then there would have been some sort of trace of a struggle. But what if the attacker caught her unawares?  
  
Okay. so assume that Stephanie was caught unawares and was bashed on the head with a typewriter. Then there should have been a trace of blood around the ground or in the chute, right? Jose stuck his head down into the chute and called out to Eliza, who was standing at the bottom of the chute. "Anything?!"  
  
Eliza shook her head as she stuck a flashlight up the chute and looked around inside. "No! There's nothing, not even a trace of blood."  
  
Jose shook his head and called back down, "Fine! Meet me up here."  
  
As Jose stuck his head out of the chute, he gasped as the spring suddenly sprung back hard and nearly threw him in. He used all of his strength to keep himself from being thrown in and then struggled to pull out. Then he landed hard on the floor as he panted fearfully, "Geez, that thing almost killed me."  
  
Jose's eyes widened. "Oh my god."  
  
Eliza called down the hall, "Hey Jose! I'm up!"  
  
Jose gathered his bearings as he stood up and brushed himself off, then he ran down the hall to Stephanie's room.  
  
Eliza looked at Jose curiously, "Are you okay?"  
  
Jose came back out with a small trash bin and stuck it into Eliza's hand. "Here."  
  
Eliza looked in the trash bin with two scraps of paper in it. "Okay? Jose? You aren't tripping on acid are you?"  
  
Jose shook his head frantically as he studied Eliza's petite figure. "Hmm. You're about the same height and size."  
  
Jose grabbed Eliza's hand and led her to the garbage chute, then he pointed his hand at the chute. "Throw the garbage away."  
  
Eliza raised her eyebrows, then looked down at the trash bin and shrugged. She opened the garbage chute and used her hips to hold it open as she dumped the pieces of paper in. Suddenly, as she tried to pull out, the spring sprung out hard again and she screamed as she felt herself being pulled in. Jose quickly shot his hand out and pried the garbage chute open as Eliza scrambled away from it. Then she turned to Jose and screamed, "What the f*ck is wrong with you?! Are you trying to kill me?!"  
  
Jose rolled his eyes, realizing that Eliza didn't understand why he had her simulate what Stephanie did. "No. Eliza, don't you realize how Stephanie was killed?"  
  
Eliza's eyes widened, "oh.. OH~!"  
  
Jose nodded, "So assuming that Stephanie fell into the trashcan. But I'm still not sure how this typewriter killed her."  
  
"Maybe she fell on it?"  
  
Jose shook his head. "No, the wound would have been different looking. I think someone on the upper floor must have been throwing away their typewriter and they unknowingly killed her."  
  
Eliza rubbed her bruised ribs. ". and I used to never believe in chaos theory.poor gal."  
  
Jose looked at the paper folded away in his pocket and sighed, "We have to exonerate Mr. Dale now."  
  
Eliza winced visibly. "Do I have to come along? I don't think I want to be there when the lawsuit is being filed against us."  
  
~~~  
  
William hummed to himself as he got out of his car, stepped out into the parking lot and started to walk toward the elevator. Suddenly Buffy ran out in front of him and stopped him. William's eyes narrowed; apparently the Shadow hadn't done his job thoroughly, "Yes Mrs. Summer? How may I help you?"  
  
" Call off that stalker you sent after me." She said angrily.  
  
William's violet eyes looked down at her haughtily, "Now why should I do that if you're such a threat to me?"  
  
"I am not a threat."  
  
"I guess attacking someone in their own home has a different definition these days."  
  
Buffy screamed at William, "What the hell is wrong with you?! What did you do to Spike?!"  
  
William looked at her, unfazed by her outburst, "I didn't do anything to Spike. In fact, I'm the only reason why he's alive and sane."  
  
Buffy glared at William, "You're not Spike."  
  
"Bravo, you just realized that?"  
  
"Who are you?"  
  
William shrugged, "Find out on your own, you're a smart girl. I mean you did manage to get into a highly secure building without setting off any guards or the guy who I sent after you. Actually, I'm quite surprised at the moment. You really should be dead, my terms were to have you killed if you even tried approach me."  
  
Buffy looked at William in horror. "Why are you doing this?"  
  
William laughed as she walked over and invaded Buffy's personal space, "Fine, I'll tell you. I'm Michael. as in the archangel and I despise you with every fiber of my being. Spike may love you, but he won't. As long as he doesn't remember who you are, he can't love you and he can't protect you from me. I've seen what you've done to him. You're the reason why he's so f*cked up at the moment. Don't worry, I'll manage to kill you pretty soon, before he can remember who you are. I'll be doing him a favor."  
  
Buffy shrank as she backed away from him. "Get out of his body."  
  
"No can do. I need it."  
  
Buffy suddenly jumped up and tried to spin kick him in the face. But the way Buffy moved instantly gave away what she was going to do. William took advantage of Buffy's unbalanced state in the air and used her momentum to slam her into the concrete ground. Buffy whimpered as he head collided sickeningly with the hard ground and knocked her out.  
  
William looked down at her disheveled body in distaste and speed dialed security. "Hello? This is William Dale, there's a unconcious psychotic girl here in Parking lot A who tried to attack me. Yes, I'd like you take her down to the police station. Make sure she's locked away for good."  
  
~~~  
  
***Nemi and Will secretly watched Michael and Buffy's interaction in the parking lot. Nemi was suddenly very sick as he watched Michael unfeelingly harm the beautiful blue-green eyed girl. At the moment, William was going upstairs to his penthouse. As William entered the penthouse safely they noticed that Michael was pulling out of his control state and they suddenly rushed to the side and pretended to be asleep. Michael looked at their prone figure and relaxed. Good, they hadn't seen what happened. Then Michael quietly walked into a more secluded spot of the dreamscape to take a break.  
  
Nemi and Will looked at each other after Michael left. Nemi murmured to Will, "I think I might know who this Buffy is."  
  
Will started to quietly sob, "Oh god, I hate him. I hate him."  
  
Nemi touched Will's shoulder, "What's wrong kiddo?"  
  
"I remember who Buffy is."  
  
~~~ (the next day)  
  
Nemi approached Michael, determined to give him the tongue lashing of his life. "Michael."  
  
Michael held out his hand as he approached the spot he usually used to take control of William, "Wait. I have an important errand to run at the moment."  
  
"It's really important."  
  
Michael's eyes begged Nemi to let him go, "I really need to go. Can this wait until I come back?"  
  
Nemi sighed as he looked away, frustrated. " Why have you been lying to us?"  
  
Michael's tensed visibly, "Now is not the time."  
  
Nemi growled, "No, we deal with this now."  
  
Just as Michael was about to retort, he could sense Lucifer's presence nearing, " I need to go. We'll deal later."  
  
Nemi lunged at Michael. But Michael was faster and he froze Nemi in his spot, midair. "I'm sorry I had to do that. But I have a more important thing to deal with."***  
  
William 'woke up' just as Lucifer materialized in the room.  
  
"It's time." Lucifer said as he touched the obsidian sword at his waist. William nodded as he retrieved the crystal sword from a secret panel behind his bed.  
  
"Are you ready?" Lucifer asked with a slight bit of nervousness in his voice.  
  
William sighed, his violet eyes a little distant and his brows knit with worry. 'Stop thinking about what Nemiphoren said. Like you said, we'll deal later.'  
  
Then William looked up at Lucifer with stern eyes, "I'm as ready as I'll ever be."  
  
Lucifer nodded and the two powerful being disappeared from the room. ~~~  
  
Jose tapped his fingers against the rails in the elevator nervously as Eliza fidgeted next to him. They were on their way up to William Dale's penthouse. A million thoughts raced through their heads as they tried to prepare themselves from the billionaire's wrath. They approached the door with trepidation and knocked. But never in a millions years had either of them expected William to have mysteriously disappear and William's manservant hysterically trying to find him.  
  
Cont. 


	20. chapter 20

By bitmaxmouse  
  
Disclaimers: Buffy doesn't belong to me.  
  
Note: HEY! Last chapter! We're done  
  
Michael walked silently with Lucifer through the marble hall which was one of the strange buildings that appeared out of nowhere in this desolate dimension. It was the perfect fighting grounds for one of their final battles. The entire land was barren, covered with a deep, reddish clay-like dirt. The suns were closer to this planet, creating an oppressive sort of feeling, but the planet wasn't particularly hot. It sort of reminded Michael of how mars would look like if the sky a dark orange color surrounded by 3 suns and 5 moons.  
  
Every few miles there was a building, which appeared out of nowhere and didn't fit with the environment at all. Michael knew that they were materialized by Lucifer as one of the headquarters to be used to gather his minions and allies. There were deformed and hideous creatures roaming everywhere in the hall. Michael glanced over at Lucifer's solemn face and spoke, "Have you talked to the other Archangels?"  
  
Lucifer gave him a strange look, "No. Whatever for?"  
  
"Did it ever occur to you that we might be able to negotiate the situation?"  
  
"But Metatron."  
  
".Isn't the only Archangel. You could have talked to Uriel, Raphael or Gabriel."  
  
"They're too embedded with their 'morals' I would never get through to them."  
  
"But I know that they don't particularly like these battles that we have every few millennia."  
  
Lucifer shook his head, "It's already too late."  
  
Michael shoved his hands into his suit that he hadn't changed out of and he sighed. "I can talk to Raphael, I'm closer to him."  
  
Lucifer shrugged, giving a 'it's kind of pointless' look. "Sure. If you can do it."  
  
Michael nodded. "Be back soon."  
  
~~~  
  
The policeman looked strangely at the ranting manservant, "So you're saying that your boss, William Dale, was in the apartment one second and suddenly he disappeared?"  
  
"Yes!"  
  
"Did it ever occur to you that he could have just gone out?" The policeman said sarcastically.  
  
"No! I would have heard him! And besides I reviewed all of the security tapes in the penthouse and none of them show him leaving."  
  
The policeman shook his head as he wrote down the missing person's report. "It's not very much to go on. I know he was accused of killing that reporter gal. what's her name? Stephie?"  
  
"Stephanie."  
  
"Whatever. Maybe he hopped a plane out of the country."  
  
"But all of his personal jets are accounted for and he hasn't registered any seats on any airline!"  
  
The policeman held his hands up, "Hey man, calm down. It was just a speculation, I'm just as lost as you are. We'll get a detective on this case, the best money can buy right?"  
  
Jeff nodded absentmindedly, "Yeah.. yeah."  
  
~~~  
  
The only sound coming from the room was Raphael sharpening his sword.  
  
"What do you want?" Raphael asked the thin air.  
  
Michael suddenly materialized, "Just here to talk."  
  
"You shouldn't be here. It's almost started." Raphael answered, his tone was monotonous and indifferent.  
  
"I'm trying to reason to with you."  
  
Raphael whipped his head around and scoffed. "Reason? It's a little too late for that traitor."  
  
"Metatron has blinded."  
  
"No!" Raphael cut in, "Lucifer has blinded YOU!"  
  
"How could you say that, he was one of us!"  
  
Raphael took the sword he was sharpening and pointed it at Michael's throat. "Like how you were one of us?"  
  
"There needs to be a balance." Michael answered.  
  
Raphael took the sword away. "It's not too late Michael, for you to come back to us."  
  
Michael rolled his eyes and backed away, "Oh~! And it's too late to stop this f*cking war!"  
  
Michael glared at Raphael in disgust, "Hypocrite."  
  
And then Michael disappeared from the room, leaving a frustrated Raphael to contemplate the situation. ~~~  
  
A moody Michael greeted Lucifer as he walked out into the hall, "Things didn't go well?"  
  
Michael strapped on the sheath with the crystal sword, "I don't want to talk about it."  
  
Lucifer nodded, "You'll get over it soon enough. I did, eventually. It's just the price you have to pay for making the right choice."  
  
Michael ran his hand over the metal belt, holding the sheath to his waist, "The 'right choice' is relative. Look, I'm only going to fight if it looks like your side is losing."  
  
Lucifer sighed heavily and tilted his head down, "Yeah, I thought you would. It's all right."  
  
Michael was silent, but his face was contorted in apology.  
  
"No, you aren't sorry, you're just doing the right thing and I recognize that. I just hope it isn't a decision you're going to regret."  
  
~~~  
  
The blood red sky looked like an imminent omen for both side, Michael could have sworn that it probably rained blood on this planet. If not, it was going to this afternoon.  
  
Michael stood watching from the cliff above the valley where the two sides would engage into their mindless battle. Michael looked over to where Metatron was standing. His energy was far stronger than the last time they met, this battle was going to be over soon.  
  
Within moments the battle began, the echoes of screams carried itself from the depths of the valley, a lake of blood seems to appear from the massacre from the middle. Metatron had decided not to wait and he was slicing the demons effortlessly. Lucifer and a few other top-level hell gods were already having a difficult handling the archangels. One of the demon witches used a spell and bound Gabriel and Uriel midfight, which gave the hell gods an opportunity to pound on them. However, Metatron came in and swept the hell gods' bodies away in one blow.  
  
Michael frowned, he knew that he had to face Metatron before he annihilated everything. He took a small step forward and few pieces of rock scattered under his heavy feet. Michael closed his eyes and took a deep breath.  
  
'Now.'  
  
~~~  
  
Metatron laughed as he plowed through the bodies easily with his long sword. Michael yanked an arrow out of a dead body and took a bow from the hands of a dead archer, then he concentrated on the tip of the arrow until a blazing flame grew on the end. Michael aimed at Metatron's distracted figure, directly at the upper spinal cord. The arrow hit bulls eye, however, it barely affected the hulking figure.  
  
Metatron turned around and smiled viciously.  
  
"It looks like the traitor has finally decided to join us!" Metatron said with a gleefully false tone. "By the way, nice host. I hope he doesn't mind that he won't be getting his body back. I mean, there won't be much left of either of you when I'm done."  
  
Michael drew out the crystal sword and held it menacingly at Metatron. Unexpectedly, Metatron began to laugh. "Oh~hoho. I see why you got the weak mortal body now. You wanted to play with the pretty shiny sword. Well, you know what? It's not going to save you."  
  
Metatron closed his eyes as his body started to cackle with a white-ish electricity that danced threateningly. Faster than a blink of an eye, Metatron disappeared and reappeared behind Michael and sent a powerful blow down his spine. Michael let out a scream as he felt one of his arms pop out of its socket.  
  
Metatron shook his head in disappointment, "tsk.tsk.tsk. I Michael, the greatest warrior of the Archangel. You know what? You're pretty pathetic. I have no idea why you."  
  
Michael sent a powerful kick into Metatron's gut with enough momentum to send the enormous being flying into the group of battling angel and demons. While Metatron had been bragging, Michael had started to tap into his own energy source. Michael concentrated harder as he called forth more energy. But within, there were complications. ~~~  
  
Nemi and Will screamed as the entire dreamscape illuminated and started to fall apart, like it was disintegrating from the sheer power that was being sent through the body.  
  
"I-I-.." Will cried as he clung onto Nemi. "I feel like someone is tearing me apart."  
  
Nemi watched as the barriers fell apart and the Creature begin to enter, however in that instant a column of force swept through and annihilated it.  
  
"It's gone." Nemi whispered as he watched the Creature slowly fade away. "Will, it's gone!"  
  
"Will?" Nemi asked as he shook the little boy's limp body. "No.."  
  
Nemi grew hysterical as he tried to wake up the younger soul. Nemi took Will in his arms and started to run towards the main bubble where Michael usually resided, "Michael! Michael! Will's hurt!... Michael?!"  
  
There was no answer. Nemi let out a desperate wail as he walked around in circles. Eventually he ended up in the center of the dreamscape- The last place that could stand while everything else crumbled.  
  
~~~  
  
Michael lurched suddenly, something was wrong. But he barely had time to think as Metatron shook himself of the sickening pieces of demon body parts and blood and started to stalk towards Michael. Metatron grinned as he dropped his own weapon and his arm became a blade. Michael felt a bit of dread in his stomach as the other archangel stalked over.  
  
Their blades met once they were close enough to each other and to Michaels surprise, Metatron's arm was still intact.  
  
'sharpened down to an atom. cuts through archangels.'  
  
His breath quickened. Could Lucifer have given him a malfunctioned sword? Was this a setup?  
  
Metatron started to tisk as his presence started to force Michael to back up. Michael swallowed, the acid taste of bile mixed with fear didn't help his situation. Metatron's bladelike arm changed into a Triton and caught Michael's neck in between the two spikes.  
  
Then Metatron took a lazy hand and reach over to pry a butcher knife from one of the more primitive demons, his face was immensely smug.  
  
"Not feeling so powerful anymore huh little boy. I expected better. Oh well, this was so easy. But then I did tap into God's power-"  
  
Suddenly Metatron stopped talking and lurched forward. Lucifer was standing behind him with his sword on his lower left side - indicating that he had sliced down on the archangel.  
  
The Triton trapping Michael's neck disappeared and retracted to become Metatron's right hand once more. Michael quickly shifted and pulled himself out from underneath Metatron's bulking body. Michael then looked up at Lucifer with fury, "What the hell are you trying to pull?!"  
  
Michael held up his crystal sword, "This thing doesn't work!"  
  
Lucifer lifted an eyebrow and shrugged, "Sorry, forgot that both swords need to be out in order for the magical property to work."  
  
Michael hissed, "And you found that you didn't have to tell me this vital information?!"  
  
"It kind of slipped m-" Lucifer stopped mid-sentence as the sound of a 'Whoosh' was heard. Then he looked down and found that he had an arrow, imbedded perfectly in his sternum. Lucifer's sword instantly flipped downward to support him as he crouched down, trying to handle the pain.  
  
Michael was about to run towards Lucifer until he saw Metatron was slowly inching towards Lucifer, fingers outstretched. 'He's going to leech off of him!' Michael suddenly realized.  
  
He looked down at the crystal sword, "You better be right."  
  
Then he flipped the sword facing down and stabbed Metatron in the spine. The bulky archangel let out a wail as blood and saliva gurgled out of his mouth Then Michael pulled out the sword and raised it above Metatron's head, "Just like decapitating a vampire. better safe than sorry."  
  
As sickening crack of bones and squish of flesh could be heard in the distance.  
  
~~~  
  
Lucifer cringed as he glanced down at Metatron's head that had rolled towards him, "That's lovely Michael, really you have no finess- Arg!"  
  
Another arrow had imbedded in Lucifer's knee. Michael looked up and his eyes quickly scanned the skies, "Who the hell?"  
  
But apparently Lucifer had seen them, "By the blond Hell god's body."  
  
Michael looked towards that direction and briefly recognized Glory's corpse. There was a small flicker of shine from the tip of an arrow. One someone's arrow shined like that.  
  
"It's Raphael."  
  
"I know." Lucifer grunted as he pulled the arrow out of his knee. "Urg, that's going to leave a scar. Come on, let's get out of here."  
  
"What about?"  
  
"No, forget him. He'll be taken care of."  
  
"What? By whom?"  
  
"Explain later. Just give me a hand here." Lucifer held his left arm out and Michael hooked the arm over his shoulders and supported Lucifer up. Suddenly another whoosh could be heard, but it missed by an inch.  
  
Michael quickly gathered his bearings and disappeared with Lucifer.  
  
~~~  
  
There were back in Michael's room when both of them reappeared. Michael first lay Lucifer on the bed and broke off the shaft of the arrow, but leaving most of the point in Lucifer's body, "I need my knives to deal with that."  
  
Lucifer nodded grudgingly.  
  
Michael went into the bathroom and came back with a few dry towels and hot wet towels. He cleaned most of the blood from both of them and then treated Lucifer's more minor wounds first, especially the one on his leg.  
  
Lucifer winced as he felt a needle pull through his knee, stitching the gaping wound together, "Can't you just use magic?"  
  
Michael shook his head, "All tapped out. I didn't realize the crystal sword also leeched energy."  
  
Lucifer sighed and then squirmed, "It's alright, probably better anyways."  
  
Michael continued to sew, "Why do you say that?"  
  
"God will be pissed, better not to call attention to ourselves so fast."  
  
"Why would he be pissed? He's probably in a different universe right now."  
  
"No he isn't. Or at least he'll be here soon."  
  
Michael was confused, but then Lucifer had been around longer and he knew these sort of things, "Why?"  
  
Lucifer cleared his throat, "Remember how Metatron said he tapped into God's power?"  
  
Michael nodded.  
  
"Well, it's not so much as tapping as ripping a hole in God and then sucking the power out.. Slimy bastard. I didn't think he'd stoop to that low." Lucifer hissed.  
  
"So God's going to be running in to see why he's leaking power and then flame whoever did that to him?"  
  
"Wouldn't you?" Lucifer shot back.  
  
Michael shrugged, "Okay. well, so." He gave a sigh, "If God comes here, he'll realize what happened. After he's done with Metatron, he'll deal with us?"  
  
"Not too sure." Lucifer shook his head, he looked worried, "I mean, I'm riding on the hope that he'll realize we were following the first and foremost rule, and that's: maintaining balance. He might not like the way we dealt with it. I just hope he isn't too pissed after he's done with Metatron."  
  
"Wait. I thought I finished." Michael started, but Lucifer's laughed stopped him. "What?"  
  
"You only destroyed Metatron's physical body. Spiritual castigation is far more painful than being physically killed."  
  
Michael cringed, then he froze and he suddenly realized.  
  
"Oh shit,"  
  
Lucifer frowned and lifted his head slightly, "What's wrong with you?"  
  
"My host's soul. Shit! I was ignoring it while I was fighting. Something must have happened when I touched Metatron when he charged up!"  
  
"Well what are you rambling for! Go deal with it!" Lucifer scowled at Michael. "You're such a dunderhead, I can't believe you're only a thousand years old younger than me. When I was your age."  
  
Lucifer's words drowned out as Michael closed his eyes and went to check on Nemi and Will.  
  
~~~  
  
Michael looked around the shattered dreamscape, "Oh God no."  
  
He actually had to levitate because everything had fallen into the abyss. except for a small platform in the center where Nemi and Will were lying. Both of them were half dead. Michael looked at both of them helplessly, "What do I do. what do I do?!"  
  
Suddenly a hand touched Michael's shoulder. Michael looked up, it was Lucifer. Apparently the older archangel didn't trust Michael to be able to deal with the situation. Michael felt a flash of resentment and relief. Lucifer's spirit form was fine, as opposed to his physical form.  
  
He quietly pushed Michael to the side and studied the two unconscious souls. "You can't restore them, not unless you want give up your own soul."  
  
"How did this happen?"  
  
"You know how it happened. You just told me earlier."  
  
"But I wasn't sure"  
  
"Well I'm SURE."  
  
Michael swallowed, "What do I do?"  
  
"One, stop sounding like a broken record. Two, do as I say, I'm going to be doing a Convergance."  
  
Michael nodded. Convergances were when you combined two half souls to make one new soul. Then he held out his hand, "But wait, Nemiphoren is a demon soul."  
  
Lucifer shook his head, "Doesn't matter, he had enough humanity in him to converge without a problem."  
  
Lucifer levitated to Will's head and put both his hands on his head. He glanced over at Michael, "Do the same as me, but on Nemiphoren."  
  
Michael followed Lucifer's instruction and did the same.  
  
"Ready."  
  
"Yeah.."  
  
~~~  
  
William groaned as he sat up. He looked around, "Wasn't I. I'm not in the dreamscape anymore."  
  
A voice spoke next to him. William quickly turned his head. It was Michael, except he was transparent. William gaped, not sure what was going on, his head throbbed unkindly every time he strained to recall something. Michael held out a hand, "Don't bother. It'll come back throughout the week so you don't need to strain yourself."  
  
William blinked, "Okay.not to be offensive or anything, but what are you doing here?"  
  
"To give you my Gifts." Michael told him vaguely.  
  
"Gifts?"  
  
Michael nodded, "As a way to repay you for allowing me to use your body as a host. I couldn't have done it without you."  
  
William blinked, "Oh. alright."  
  
Michael held out his transparent hands and placed them on William. William felt a strange cold air from where Michael hands should have been, had he been tangible. Then a rush of energy surged through him. And as soon as it came, it disappeared.  
  
William was very confused now, "Would you mind at least telling me what you did."  
  
"I gave you the powers that you possessed while I was in you. You need that because once you start remembering, you'll want to try to perform certain tasks that require that kind of magic.. Umm.. heh. Lucifer probably could have explained it better. But he's talking to God right now, trying to keep the both of us from being maimed."  
  
William nodded, but the conversation was a bit weird. It would have helped if he could remember things other than his name.  
  
Then Michael held out a glowing silver sphere, "This is a very dangerous object that can only be used three times. And what it does. is it takes it's keeper through time. Either to the future or past. And it will allow for you to change the future if you decide to go into the past. Note: if you do go into the past, there will be two of you in existence, be sure not to kill your past self, for that will erase your own existence. And also, you must realize, there are consequences if you change too much. So be warned, use it carefully and if you do decide to return to the past, hold your tongue before telling anyone of the future. You can only ripple time, not splash it."  
  
William took the sphere in his hands and then looked up at Michael, "Why?"  
  
Michael smiled, "When you start remembering, you'll see."  
  
"Wait." William said as Michael tried to leave. The archangel stopped, "Yes?"  
  
"Won't that undo everything you did?"  
  
Michael shook his head, "The battle was on another plane entirely. Your appearance in the past shall not change the fact that I used your body as a host. It cannot change the world you are currently. But it can increase the amount of possibilities for a better future."  
  
Then Michael disappeared leaving William alone and still utterly confused in his bedroom.  
  
~~~  
  
The words of the archangel started to make more sense as William recalled everything throughout the week, despite the messes he had to cleanup from his disapperance. He felt the sphere in his pocket, itching to be used. He wanted to go back and change everything. He didn't want the Scoobles to suffer. He didn't want Buffy to look so lost and used. He wanted to take that betrayed and downtrodden look out of her eyes. He wanted heal her urge to return to death. He wanted to stop Tara from dying, he wanted. and Joyce too. he wanted. too much.  
  
He couldn't really figure out which point in time to return to. She he return right before Joyce died and get her to the hospital? Should he go back to that time Buffy ran away from home after killing Angelus? . Or perhaps he should go back all the way to the beginning before Buffy became a slayer.  
  
'Yes.' a small voice in him urged.  
  
He could take over Angel's role becoming Buffy's shadowy guardian. He could be Buffy's first love. He wasn't under some sort of stupid Gypsy curse. He wouldn't leave her, never leave her.  
  
'Is that what I want. Is that what I decide?' William asked himself. 'But what of the other me, what if the 'me' in that world also loves her too. Aren't you being a bit selfish for denying him the ability to love her? He was there first.'  
  
William sighed and sat down on the park bench near the lake and watched the ripples of water.  
  
A soft voice floated over to him, but it was hard and steel-like, "Mind if I sit down?"  
  
William mentally cringed and remembered that he had sent Buffy to jail. He reluctantly looked up and noticed that Buffy was standing at the end of the bench, he smirked, "It's a public park."  
  
Buffy sat at the other end of the bench, as far away as she could from him. Her eyes were full of suspicion and malice, "What have you done to Spike. Get out of his body!"  
  
William closed his eyes, 'Thank you for giving me this mess Michael, was this also one of your Gifts? You could have been a bit less nasty to her. despite what she did.'  
  
"He's not in me anymore Buffy."  
  
Buffy tensed and then looked up at William, he eyes didn't hold the same malice as when she saw him the last time. "Spike?"  
  
"Yeah. well.. sort of. I mean. I'm still me, Michael isn't in my body anymore, but I'm not really the same anymore either." William mentally lashed himself, 'Spoken like a true idiot who doesn't know what he's talking about.'  
  
Buffy was still staring at him, after all. as she had to base on was his words. She wanted to trust him. but after that whole stalking and then jail business.  
  
"How do I know you're not lying."  
  
William shrugged, "I guess I can't prove anything."  
  
"So I can't trust you."  
  
William shook his head. "That's for you to decide."  
  
"Why? Why did you do it?!"  
  
"What? Follow you?"  
  
"And send me to jail."  
  
"I told you, that wasn't me. That was Michael!" William's voice rose. He hated that fact that she was looking at him like that, like he was worse than the dirt under her shoe.  
  
Buffy shook her head, "Look." She sighed, as if she had come to a conclusion. "I can't prove that you're right. or that you're wrong. But please promise me something?"  
  
William looked up at her, curious, "What is it?"  
  
"You have to promise first." Buff insisted.  
  
"If I don't know what I'm promising."  
  
"Look, I want you stay away from me and Dawn and my friends. That includes Angel and his friends too."  
  
William felt a strong stab of hurt, "What?"  
  
Buffy shook her head, "After what you did to us. I can't trust you. And I know how powerful you are. I mean, destroying Wolfram and Harte in one night. Even Angel couldn't do that for that last five years."  
  
William was bitterly looking down now. "I can't promise you that."  
  
Buffy waved his answer away, "Forget the promising.. just. That's not going to work. I'm not asking you to promise. I'm telling you what to do, for my sake and my sanity. If I ever see you again." She trailed off, but William understood the implication. He nodded.  
  
Then Buffy nodded and walked away.  
  
As soon as Buffy was out of sight, William pulled the sphere out of his pocket. "I'm allowed to be selfish.."  
  
Without warning, William disappeared.  
  
End.  
  
Author's note: Winces. I know. I know. open ended ending. I'll consider writing a sequel, but no promises. 


End file.
